My son had a Huge (to me) flock. About 15-20 grown hens and 2 roos, and 2 separate broods of less than a week old babies, probably 2 dozen or so. Had this amount for several weeks (after the babies hatched out). Babies were following moms fine, roo's were leaving them alone. They all free-ranged over the yard (fenced in).
Then one week, about 1/2 of everyone was gone. OVERNIGHT. 1/2 the grown hens and 1/2 the babies. ZAP. Like magic. No feathers, no dead bodies, no blood. Just...... gone. No ruckus or noise. Our 2 inside dogs didn't alert to any problems. We walked the entire yard, no nothing. Within the next couple of days, ZAP the rest of the entire flock was gone. At night. Same results. No blood, feathers, bodies, etc. Just gone. Except one roo survived. Out of about 50 total chickens 1 roo was left. Remember, we found NO bodies or feathers or heard anything and this was during the night both times.
We wracked our brains as to what could've happened. A pack of dogs--no our dogs wouldve gone berserk. People--how could they catch all those chickens out of the locked coop an spirit them away without (again) the dogs hearing/raising a ruckus. His yard isn't that big. Maybe 1/2 an acre. And the fence is mostly cedar planks. Raccoons? or another predator? Would have found blood/bodies all over. We were just bamboozled.
Then one week, about 1/2 of everyone was gone. OVERNIGHT. 1/2 the grown hens and 1/2 the babies. ZAP. Like magic. No feathers, no dead bodies, no blood. Just...... gone. No ruckus or noise. Our 2 inside dogs didn't alert to any problems. We walked the entire yard, no nothing. Within the next couple of days, ZAP the rest of the entire flock was gone. At night. Same results. No blood, feathers, bodies, etc. Just gone. Except one roo survived. Out of about 50 total chickens 1 roo was left. Remember, we found NO bodies or feathers or heard anything and this was during the night both times.
We wracked our brains as to what could've happened. A pack of dogs--no our dogs wouldve gone berserk. People--how could they catch all those chickens out of the locked coop an spirit them away without (again) the dogs hearing/raising a ruckus. His yard isn't that big. Maybe 1/2 an acre. And the fence is mostly cedar planks. Raccoons? or another predator? Would have found blood/bodies all over. We were just bamboozled.
