I'm so sad :*(

[GGBEAR]

I am totally devastated to say that a Fox last night or early hours of this morning has killed all my chickens it left my 2 biggest birds with their heads bitten off and took the other 3 away all I'm left with was a pile of feathers and 2 headless birds.

 

[Ameraucanas]

So sorry. This must be really hard for you. I am incredibly sorry.

 

[GGBEAR]

Just totally gutted had them just over a year never had any problem until last night now I look in my garden and their gone

 

[brideofchaos]

I'm SO sorry! That happened to me with my first flock 10 years ago. A grey fox pilfered about 6 chickens over 2 weeks, no matter how I tried to secure my run. It kept finding a way in. Tried trapping it for a week to no avail and finally had to take it out. Broke my heart. Worried for a week that it might have had pups somewhere. But had no choice at that point. The final straw was when he carried off my favorite Serama roo right outside my living room window and I couldn't run fast enough to save him. The fox (assumably) also gutted my two free-range Lavender Turkeys, that were truly lap turkeys. That was even worse for me.

Not long before that, had a raccoon grab a hen right through the fence and eat her head right off before I could get to her. That was horrifying.

My heart aches for you. So sorry for your loss.

Hugs,
Wendy

 

[GGBEAR]

Thanks unsure whether to get any more I loved them so much thing is he didn't just kill for food he just murdered them all
I'm a bit scared to get any more

 

[brideofchaos]

If you're like me, you'll grieve and then feel you can't live without chickens and try again. We all learn lessons the hard way. But they are not insurmountable. Once you know the predator, you can better protect your birds. Mine was ravens and now I have aviary netting and CDs hanging from the netting and haven't lost a bird since. For foxes, folks have always told me to make sure you have your fence buried INTO the ground at least 4" or more, OR you can trench under the fence line and fill it with things like broken glass before packing the dirt back on top. OR even easier, add 6" of chicken wire as an outer dig guard on top of the ground, and put an inch of dirt on top of that. There are ways out there. But definitely cover the top if you haven't already. I spent a whole $60 on Amazon for the netting (50'x50') and it was worth 10 times that for peace of mind.

Don't give up!