I'm devastated and want to know what predator buries extra chickens?

[chickenannie]

Fox. Kills them all immediately. Then eats one and stashes the rest under leaves and stuff so it can return the next night or so and eat more.

 

[McGoo]

My dog and I interrupted a red fox in the field near us and I was thinking that she may have little kits... So this is a strong possibility given that they are known to bury their food for later.

I have seen raccoons in the yard with the chickens in the past and they appeared to be only interested in the food. I was wondering if they could actually kill so many birds.

Thanks all. Somehow honing in on who/what killed my chickens is helpful. It won't bring them back, and it is natural to have predators. I just don't want it to have been a neighbors nasty dog.

Good night

 

[Debi214]

I am thinking multiple attacks..........the coons will come at night and the fox will come and finish in the early AM. Coons just plain ole' kill and fox will act like dogs and bury their meal for later..........

 

[Zuesdude]

Looking at your nice coop and run. You may want to think about placing boards 24" high around your fence line to keep a predator from reaching inside where a stuck-on-stupit chicken will just run over to his death.

 

[McGoo]

Looking at your nice coop and run. You may want to think about placing boards 24" high around your fence line to keep a predator from reaching inside where a stuck-on-stupit chicken will just run over to his death

They weren't killed in the pen. The pen was open and they were out and about. typically, and last night was anything but typical, they are locked in the coop at dusk and not let out until about 7am. I only keep them in the pen when I'm planning to be away overnight. The pen has buried wire and we've never had a break in. Of course, had I known that the car was going to breakdown, I would have kept them in the pen....

 

[The Wolf Queen]

Can you set a few live traps then shoot the varmints?

 

[ivan3]

I'd lean toward coon as well, unless the fox/foxes were interrupted. Foxes tend to kill and carry off as many as they can get to. The ones around here will usually pack them off to munch in an area where they feel comfortable.

This is a winter fox cache (only a rabbit) in our stand of cedars. Foxes are simple to find and remove when it snows.

This pic. shows the remains of 6 of 13 (other seven were found under another cedar about twenty yards distant fom this one) of our neighbor's Silver Laced Wyandottes. The very first day they were allowed to free range, she stepped inside to cut up some grapes and watermelon for them, when she stepped out, about fifteen minutes later, a pair of foxes had come and gone taking all of the pullets and only a few feathers remained. The caches/`diners' were found approx. 70yd.s back of the house in the tree line separating our properties. The den was found approx. 60yd.s back from this point. Washed out/overexposed bright areas are the feather piles (Everything Else was consumed).

If you have woods nearby walk a pattern through them. You might find some feathers at the base of tree (coons like to leave feathers/eggshells at the base of their `usual' tree). If foxes, there'll be several piles (at this time of year). Without tracks/scat/hair it is difficult to know.

Good luck!

 

[McGoo]

Thanks all.

And I did look for tracks, but saw only deer.

 

[MIKE555444]

Several years back i purchased 10 full grown hens.... I brought them home and put them in the old chicken house that had not been used for a while. The run was destroyed years before and I had a pc of plywood nailded over the access door to protect them until I could throw together a small run.

I woke the very next morning to find ALL 10 hens dead. They were slaughtered on our lawn. The description you gave sounded very familar to the way they were killed but the only difference with mine was that the murders were still laying in the yard chewing on the last hen.

You guessed it... it was a couple of the neiborhood dogs.... and serious reconstruction was done before I added the new flock. The dogs had pushed in the plywood I carlessly "tacked" and helped there self to the chickens.


Good luck

Mike

 

[McGoo]

it was a couple of the neiborhood dogs

Mike, that thought crossed my mind. Since I live in the 'burbs' there are very few dogs that roam...but there is one that does roam free at night ... and it's mean.

Once I saw that the chickens were whole and that one was buried, I realized that it was a wild animal.

Sorry for your loss too... guess we all learn from our mistakes.​