Late Night Slaughter in Missouri

[animalspooker]

I have a wire cage with the biggest hole being 1" x 3/4" that housed 3 RIR chicks we recently purchased at Orscheln. We'd had them for around 5 weeks, and they were about 6 inches tall. Last night while they were in the cage, some critter pulled two of them out and left nothing but feet and the third bird was dead in the cage. Any ideas.

 

[Streetview]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. I am not familiar with the area but do you get raccoon or sneaky rodents like minks or whatnot?

 

[ivan3]

Raccoon (left feet outside cage). Need to pick up some half inch hardware cloth to keep the `hands' out. Sorry for your loss..

 

[crazyfeathers]

Sorry for your loss. It is best to make your girls go in the coop at night and close the door. Just when you think it's safe the predators come. Again very sorry for your loss.

 

[baltz]

Your not far from my location and I am starting to think its these **** raccoons (possibly a mink) getting into my coop. There are lots of coons and they have their young kits they are feeding this time of year as the young are getting more mobile. In the past its always been foxes and the neighbor's dumb dog.

 

[ivan3]

Here in Cent. MO (Ag/forest primarily - rural residential - no organized neighborhoods) the coon population had stayed pretty steady (1997-2011) as we'd take ~30 a year without really trying (3 havaharts). With the drought the number dropped off for a couple years (5-7 taken) and has rebounded this year (already got 10).

An old thread on `preemptive removal of vermin': https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/232969/modifications-for-standard-havaharts-save-time

 

[centrarchid]

Raccoon (left feet outside cage). Need to pick up some half inch hardware cloth to keep the `hands' out. Sorry for your loss..

Also make so birds roosting well away from sides / bottom where raccoon can grab victims from outside pen.

 

[JanetS]

Sorry for your loss. Sounds like a raccoon to me. 1/2" hardware cloth is a good wire to use. Will you be getting any more chickens?

 

[Berkley]

We just got hens and some baby chicks and the first night we had them I think something may have tried to get into the coop with them. I built the coop on the side of my garage and nailed the hardware cloth to the garage on one side. I had nailed it down well, but didn't trim the excess off yet because I was so busy going to pick up the hens, buying feed, waterers etc... The very next morning when I went out to check on the hens, that extra wire had been bent up and away from the wall like something had been trying to get in. Luckily they couldn't get past the nails where I had actually nailed it.

 

[ivan3]

We just got hens and some baby chicks and the first night we had them I think something may have tried to get into the coop with them. I built the coop on the side of my garage and nailed the hardware cloth to the garage on one side. I had nailed it down well, but didn't trim the excess off yet because I was so busy going to pick up the hens, buying feed, waterers etc...  The very next morning when I went out to check on the hens, that extra wire had been bent up and away from the wall like something had been trying to get in. Luckily they couldn't get past the nails where I had actually nailed it.

If possible, attach hardware cloth to frame with wood screws through oversized washers, every 4-5". We attach ours on the inside of coop windows as coons can pull harder than they can push and can't use their wt. to pull it off the outside wall.

If you are home, and have an outlet outside, a baby monitor is a useful tool.