I REALLY can’t catch a break here! Or a breath 😭

[cmom]

So sorry for you loss. I don't free range because of losses in the past. I built nice large covered pens with good heavy duty netting. I have electric wires around my coops and pens and concrete under the gates all due to losses from predators in the past. When free ranging, it's a risk you take and you will loose birds sooner or later. I can't be out watching my birds all of the time but I have peace knowing they are safe. People get joy from watching their birds out free ranging but the minute you get distracted a predator may strike. If you have a camera, put it up because most likely the predator has been lurking looking for an opportunity and apparently found one and it will be back. It could have happened by but most likely lurking. You may not see it but it probably will see you. Good luck...

 

[Folly's place]

I'm so sorry for your loss!
As others have said, keep your survivors in their safe coop and run for about two weeks, to discourage any hawk who might be involved. Raptors are all protected in the USA, but will get discouraged and move on elsewhere if there's no longer food available.
Electric fencing is great for keeping many ground predators away, and good netting over a run will keep raptors out.
Free ranging is great, except when it isn't, and will always be a risk. Loosing only one bird is hard, loosing then whole flock at once can happen too.
Again, I'm sorry.
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Also, live traps are safest, as long as you are willing and able to shoot any actual predator that you catch. Kill traps might take out pets or non-target animals, never good.
Here we do loose an occasional smaller bird to a hawk, and then the flock is locked in for ten to twenty days, until that bird moves on,. Our worst losses to predators, since having that predator safe coop, have been to a sick daytime fox, once, our own dog who escaped, once, and a rat invasion of our coop, once. All awful events!
Mary

 

[hayley3]

Sorry for the play-by-play story, but the way I found her, & how she looked at me has haunted me & stuck in my brain.

Something got one of my khaki Campbell ducks the other day. my dog kept barking, I walked onto the porch to see if something was out there. I seen 3 of my ducks (1 khaki , 2 jumbo pekin) standing under their tarp cover, I waited for my other khaki to come into view, but never did. I let my ducks free range all day until night time, never had a problem until DECEMBER. So I put on my boots & went outside to look around. Didn’t see her anywhere. When I yell “duck ducks” they will come running, usually. So I yelled duck duck. Nothing. Took my dogs out of their run & out into the yard to help find her. They ran straight up the hill behind my chicken runs & along the fence line. I followed behind looking & listening. I got far back enough to where I seen a brown body lying under a tree limb. In between my sobbing & yelling NO I ran to her & seen that she was still alive, barely. She was laying on her stomach, with her neck stretched out onto the cold, snowy ground. I scooped her up & ran back to the house with her, got her inside & laid her into the hospital tub I had available. Ran back outside & put the other ducks away for the time being. By the time I got back inside, I watched her take her last breath. I checked her wounds, above her right wing was shredded, meat, bone, blood, her wing might’ve been pulled out of place ... I’m not sure. She had some blood on her neck, one puncture wound. Her neck was very limp, she wasn’t trying to move at all. My suspicion is a hawk... maybe a broad winged, or red tail. Does this sound like a hawks doing? I found where it attacked her first outside. Just blood. No footprints. Only her feathers. In the back where I found her, there’s a couple drops of blood trailing straight to where she was laying.

This is my first year keeping chickens & ducks. I first got them all back in March/April of this year. December has been awful, our first attacks, losses. I’ve lost 3 birds so far this month. 2 to predators, 1 for unknown causes. I know it’s apart of keeping chickens & ducks... but I never thought of how traumatizing it would be. I never found the body of my first loss (leghorn), finding my poor duck laying in the cold snow, scared, hurt & dying. I’m a very empathetic person (unfortunately).

RIP Duck Duck The picture with red circle is where I found her.
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It's very traumatizing to find your birds dead or injured.
For me it is guilt too for not being there for them.
I had a fox take off with my duck, and the fox had to travel a long way across an open pasture to get to her, which is odd behavior for a fox because they like to move in cover....anyway he came right up to my front door and took her. I yelled and chased after and he dropped her but she was already gone. It's painful, and I hope I have learned a lesson from every death, so that I don't make the same mistake twice.
Yesterday the neighbor's lab came up to my Premiere Electric fence, I have an audio monitor outside, I heard my goose in her panic tone, I ran out and the dog was running away, as it had touched the fence with its nose. Electric fences are the way to go..gives you such peace of mind.

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

I am so sorry for your loss. It is so hard. You need to keep your ducks locked up for a while, to discourage your predator from coming. Only let hem free range if you can come out with your dogs to protect them. Is you coop and run predator proof? Keep them away form the predators. Killing the predator will only open up territory for another one to move in. Plus, if your suspicions are right and it is a hawk, you can't shoot them anyway. I am so sorry for your loss! Hugs and more hugs! Avery

Thank you so much for the kind words & hugs! All of my chickens stay locked up unless I’m able to be outside while they free range. My ducks have always had all access to our yard from the moment I let them out in the morning until I put them up right before sun set. My Chesapeake is an amazing dog, great listener, & has never once tried going after any of my birds so I’ll probably start bringing her out in the yard with me again when I do any free ranging. My coop is pretty sturdy, my run is as PP as I could make it. I have hardware cloth skirts around the run, but I don’t feel like it’s 100% though. That’s what I was afraid of, kill one predator, another one will be right behind it in line. Ugh

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

I’m so sorry. Losing a beloved ducky is the worst. I would order that electric fence ASAP. Traps, game cams, maybe even leaving your dogs out (if they won’t attack your ducks) would be good ideas. If you suspect it is a hawk, listen for hawks. Red tails make what most people would think is an eagle sound, but it is not. You can look up some videos of it. Again I’m so sorry for your loss

Thank you for your kind words. Yes, we’ve had lots of red tails over the summer. This year was the first time I’ve ever heard a red tail screech in my entire life, & I’ve lived in the same place for 6 years now. They flew over, but never came down into the yard. The hawk/falcon I’ve been seeing in the last some weeks is a smaller bird, from google searches of hawks in WNC it might be the Broad Winged Hawk. Thankfully my Chesapeake is an awesome dog, she listens to commands SO well & has never tried going after any of my birds. She’ll be coming out with me during free range from now on.

 

[ChunkyBirb]

Thank you for your kind words. Yes, we’ve had lots of red tails over the summer. This year was the first time I’ve ever heard a red tail screech in my entire life, & I’ve lived in the same place for 6 years now. They flew over, but never came down into the yard. The hawk/falcon I’ve been seeing in the last some weeks is a smaller bird, from google searches of hawks in WNC it might be the Broad Winged Hawk. Thankfully my Chesapeake is an awesome dog, she listens to commands SO well & has never tried going after any of my birds. She’ll be coming out with me during free range from now on.

That’s great! It’s nice to have a good, well behaved dog. Just keep an ear out for any close hawks. They can swoop down faster than you can blink.

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

It's very traumatizing to find your birds dead or injured.
For me it is guilt too for not being there for them.
I had a fox take off with my duck, and the fox had to travel a long way across an open pasture to get to her, which is odd behavior for a fox because they like to move in cover....anyway he came right up to my front door and took her. I yelled and chased after and he dropped her but she was already gone. It's painful, and I hope I have learned a lesson from every death, so that I don't make the same mistake twice.
Yesterday the neighbor's lab came up to my Premiere Electric fence, I have an audio monitor outside, I heard my goose in her panic tone, I ran out and the dog was running away, as it had touched the fence with its nose. Electric fences are the way to go..gives you such peace of mind.

Yes the guilt is eating me up! I had a fox take one of my leghorns towards the beginning of December. Im pretty sure that I was outside when she was taken, but I didn’t hear anything that would’ve made me think that one of my chooks was being attacked. All I found was a trail of feathers, I brought my Chessie (Kona) out to the area where my chook was taken a few days later, Kona led me straight to the fox den.... which was just right below our house . It was a cold trail & Kona still found the scent. That is crazy! I guess if they’re hungry enough, they’ll do whatever it takes to get a meal, even more so if there are babies involved. Hot fence seems like the absolute way to go. My husband has been chopping small trees down to make room for the fence. I’ve been looking at security cameras. I don’t think I’ll have peace of mind until we have everything put up.

 

[cmom]

I have eliminated some predators in the past. The electric wires around my coops and pens work well. Most predators first explore with their noses. I have had predators attempt to dig under the fence but abort their attempt when they get zapped. I have seen predators after I have eliminated one. and as long as they don't bother my birds, I don't bother them. If you were to catch a predator in a live trap there may be a wildlife rescue in your area that will take it. They usually have release areas.

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

Also, live traps are safest, as long as you are willing and able to shoot any actual predator that you catch. Kill traps might take out pets or non-target animals, never good.
Here we do loose an occasional smaller bird to a hawk, and then the flock is locked in for ten to twenty days, until that bird moves on,. Our worst losses to predators, since having that predator safe coop, have been to a sick daytime fox, once, our own dog who escaped, once, and a rat invasion of our coop, once. All awful events!
Mary

Thank you for your kind words That’s what I was thinking too. We have lots of loose cats/dogs running around & I would hate for one to accidentally step into a trap that takes their life. I’ve read about winter being dangerous for small backyard flocks because of the dwindling food source of predators...but I didn’t expect it to be THIS bad. I’m terrified. We had a loss earlier this month to a presumed fox. I never heard anything, or seen anything. All I found left of my leghorn was her feathers, a trail of her feathers, & remnants of food from her crop. I never imagined losses being so traumatic, I knew they might happen one day, but actually going through losses one after another.... my heart & my nerves are shot I think.