I had 15 chickens. Now I have none.

[Folly's place]

My coop/run has hardware cloth, and 2"x4" woven wire over the lower 4' in addition. It's all on a concrete foundation too. Security! The door to the covered run portion is actually an exterior door with a lock.
Mary

 

[RollingE]

So sorry to hear about your chickens! Best bit of security we ever invested in have been great pyrenees females and an anatolian shepherd male dog. These guys will fiercly protect what they consider to be theirs and that includes other pets, livestock, poultry, children and adults. We are surrounded by numerous coyotes, skunks, opposums, coons, neighboring chicken-eating dogs and just about any other predator that may see our birds as their next big mac. The great pyrs have a tendency to stay near the animals and find different spots to watch and keep and eye kn things with the occassional patrol. The anatolian will patrol first and watch afterwards. Do some research and find out if some breeds may be right for you, if you dont like hearing barking at night then these breeds are not for you. But i will say not a single thing has been on our property since they have been roaming. The peace of mind is well worth hearing a bit of barking now and again, you get used to it after a while.

 

[Norcal527]

I'm so sorry for your loss. it has happened to me a few times with different scenarios and it never gets easier. Live and learn and build fort Knox of a coop.

 

[Criticalicious]

Electric fence or hot wire will train most of the predators to stay away from the chickens. Invest in hardware cloth including a dig skirt. A door should definitely be between the run and coop to safely lock up the chickens at night. I can vouch for the Pullet Shut automatic chicken door with a light sensor - works great, especially for those early mornings when you want to sleep in or if you forget one night, the chickens safely put themselves to bed.

So sorry for your losses. I don't mean to sound callous when I say this but try to think of the bright side. Everyone loves new fluffy butts!

 

[starri33]

I'm sorry to hear about your flock, knowing what got them is the best way to find out how to stop it in the future.. Coyotes and Hawks with stray dogs are normal predators for us. I've done all that I can think of to stop them.

 

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

That’s awful. I’m so so sorry. I’m in Australia so I’m not sure but I had a similar experience with a fox and 12 chickens dead. When you feel ready look at the tape.

 

[Willowspirit]

I am so sorry you lost your flock. When I was buying quail a little girl and her mom came in to buy a pair of ducks. The girl explained to me that coyotes got their previous ducks so they built a new safer enclosure for these ducks. She said she was sad about her old ducks but was excited to start her flock again. It was wonderful to meet her.

​

 

[Julesstarohio56]

All of them. That’s rough. Can you get some more chicks to start over and distract your little (adorable) kiddo? I had an incident last week where I didn’t lock them into the coop while I went out with my three young granddaughters. We came home to most of my 15 week old chickens missing. Went through the woods looking and the 7yo pointed to a carcass exactly like your picture. They were shocked but wanted to find the rest of them. All but two were found, and they crept out from under the coop a few hours later. I told the girls that hawks and raccoons need to eat, too, so we need to be more careful. They were brave and grateful when I called to tell them Patricia and Skippy were safe. I was thinking a hawk got the one, but maybe it was a raccoon. My hubby trapped one the next day. Needless to say I suffered some guilt in the matter. My first flock, too. Wishing you the best!

 

[annampet]

We had an experience very similar to yours this spring. In our case it was something from the weasel family that squeezed through our chicken wire. We lost 4 of 5 hens. I have a 4 yr old and a 6 yr old. They both love our chickens and while they were sad, they understood in the end and we told them we'd try again.
Our next coop will not have chicken wire. We added a door to the coop, which we didn't have previously, for now.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

My coop/run has hardware cloth, and 2"x4" woven wire over the lower 4' in addition. It's all on a concrete foundation too. Security! The door to the covered run portion is actually an exterior door with a lock.
View attachment 1818168 Mary

Nice! I only have the hardware cloth in our main run right now. But adding the heavier wire over the top is my goal!