nutmeg2356
Chirping
- Feb 28, 2017
- 82
- 23
- 54
I honestly still can't believe this happened, as I'm typing this. Saturday morning, my world was shattered. My 2 dogs started going NUTS around maybe 5 am (didn't look at the clock), they do this really frequently if they hear even a car door shut, so I blew it off and went back to sleep. Mya (my 7yo min pin) was still growling a little bit later so I let her out of my room, and let her outside when she went to the door.
Once she was outside, she went BESERK barking, and while she usually does this after she hears someones car shut, this was different. She was literally freaking out. I noticed this was strange but still didn't think much of it, and walked to the coop to let the girls out, figuring since I was now up and wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, the girls would probably enjoy some extra free ranging time.
Thats when I saw it... The door to their nest box was open, which worried me, nut it wasn't until I looked at the yard that my heart stopped. The entire yard was covered in chunks of feathers... I ran into the coop, and luckily 5 of my babies made it to the enclosed run and survived. Whatever did this managed to take 3, including my gorgeous white EE that I posted about a few weeks ago...
This animal not only ransacked my coop, but completely ripped open my neighbors coop and took all 4 of their chickens. Now, their coop was very small and not very sturdy (they bought it online, so think cheap construction), but mine I obviously made, and I reinforced the (excuse my language) hell out of it. I honestly have absolutely NO idea how something got into mine... It ripped the screws out of the wood for the lock on the nest box.....
Inside the coop, there was clearly a struggle. There was blood on the perch, but I think this was due to the fact that there were chucks of feathers from 2 of the survivors in the coop, so I'm thinking they bled from this, and thats what the blood is from. There were also chucks of feathers from one of the wyandottes that got taken.
The weirdest part of this was the smell. I can almost swear that it smelled like urine in the coop when I cleaned it Sunday, just like a hamster cage or something. I also found very un-chicken like poop, although I could be wrong. This poop just looked different, and much more "carnivore" like. It was more... dog poop consistency vs chicken poop. Sorry for all the poop info.. I just would really like some insight as to what did this. I also looked for a solid hour for any other signs of their feathers &/or bodies without any luck. Besides the feathers, they went completely MIA.
I am completely heartbroken, and was in the yard wailing for a solid hour when I discovered this. This monster took 3 of my favorite girls... One of them was very skittish, and I can't imagine her fear level going through this.... ugh.
Any insight as to what may have done this would be greatly appreciated. I live in northern Illinois, an hour or so outside Chicago, in a medium sized neighborhood.
Once she was outside, she went BESERK barking, and while she usually does this after she hears someones car shut, this was different. She was literally freaking out. I noticed this was strange but still didn't think much of it, and walked to the coop to let the girls out, figuring since I was now up and wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, the girls would probably enjoy some extra free ranging time.
Thats when I saw it... The door to their nest box was open, which worried me, nut it wasn't until I looked at the yard that my heart stopped. The entire yard was covered in chunks of feathers... I ran into the coop, and luckily 5 of my babies made it to the enclosed run and survived. Whatever did this managed to take 3, including my gorgeous white EE that I posted about a few weeks ago...
This animal not only ransacked my coop, but completely ripped open my neighbors coop and took all 4 of their chickens. Now, their coop was very small and not very sturdy (they bought it online, so think cheap construction), but mine I obviously made, and I reinforced the (excuse my language) hell out of it. I honestly have absolutely NO idea how something got into mine... It ripped the screws out of the wood for the lock on the nest box.....
Inside the coop, there was clearly a struggle. There was blood on the perch, but I think this was due to the fact that there were chucks of feathers from 2 of the survivors in the coop, so I'm thinking they bled from this, and thats what the blood is from. There were also chucks of feathers from one of the wyandottes that got taken.
The weirdest part of this was the smell. I can almost swear that it smelled like urine in the coop when I cleaned it Sunday, just like a hamster cage or something. I also found very un-chicken like poop, although I could be wrong. This poop just looked different, and much more "carnivore" like. It was more... dog poop consistency vs chicken poop. Sorry for all the poop info.. I just would really like some insight as to what did this. I also looked for a solid hour for any other signs of their feathers &/or bodies without any luck. Besides the feathers, they went completely MIA.
I am completely heartbroken, and was in the yard wailing for a solid hour when I discovered this. This monster took 3 of my favorite girls... One of them was very skittish, and I can't imagine her fear level going through this.... ugh.
Any insight as to what may have done this would be greatly appreciated. I live in northern Illinois, an hour or so outside Chicago, in a medium sized neighborhood.
The only thing I could think of to explain it was a coyote, but "according" to my neighbor, they can't grab and destroy stuff like that... I don't see how they couldn't... I just don't get how a raccoon could do this type of damage
