Losing my chickens

[lisacraig]

This happened to our neighbors and w camera they confirmed it was a black snake. He could get in at night but could not pull the chicken out with him.

 

[McChooky]

Agreed. Unfortunately lesson learned too late. I’ve had chickens for years and never had any problems like this.

You may be better off to build a hoop coop with the hog panel than cover what you've got with hardware cloth. (if I you need a new coop anyway) Plywood n pallets make quick floors!

 

[BestLittleHenhouseInGV]

Hate the Hawks. Taught dogs to scare them off.

Our chickens are friendly with the dogs, but they are in their own space. Do you keep them together?

 

[iBague]

My guess would be raccoons. They’re out at night and will kill chickens for fun. It’s common that they’ll rip off the heads and leave the bodies. They’re not hungry, it’s just something to do. Hawks will Almost always start with the chest. Was the chicken behind a fence? Often raccoons will grab a chicken through the fence and try to pull the body through. When it realizes only the head will pass through, they’ll just eat that and leave

 

[wellshshld]

Something has killed 4 of my chickens over a two week period. It only eats the head and leaves the rest of body intact. I’m leaning towards a possum or raccoon. I’ve set up game camera in coop to try to see what it may be. In the mean time I am removing the chickens from this pen and putting them in other smaller pens to try to protect them. Any ideas?

Likely an owl if out in the open. The carcass is too heavy for them to lift. If in an open pen string across the top with flags (rag) can keep them out. the movement confuses them going in or out.

 

[bclailer]

Something has killed 4 of my chickens over a two week period. It only eats the head and leaves the rest of body intact. I’m leaning towards a possum or raccoon. I’ve set up game camera in coop to try to see what it may be. In the mean time I am removing the chickens from this pen and putting them in other smaller pens to try to protect them. Any ideas?

A weasel or mink is likely, they like to kill and take the head Happened to us a few times. We put a radio and got a rooster, seemed to help. Now we have a Peregrin Falcon who killed 2 of our birds!

 

[I Love Feather Babies]

Likely an owl if out in the open. The carcass is too heavy for them to lift. If in an open pen string across the top with flags (rag) can keep them out. the movement confuses them going in or out.

Set up a game camera and found out it was a possum. Have made some improvements, so hopefully it will keep it out until we can catch it with a live trap.

 

[-Shade-]

Something has killed 4 of my chickens over a two week period. It only eats the head and leaves the rest of body intact. I’m leaning towards a possum or raccoon. I’ve set up game camera in coop to try to see what it may be. In the mean time I am removing the chickens from this pen and putting them in other smaller pens to try to protect them. Any ideas?

I had the exact thing happen to us. We lost 15 out of 17 chickens in one night to a predator. Which we caught and killed a week later. About a year after that we had the exact same thing that happened to you happen to us. 4 Australorp hens had been attacked and killed in a night and the predator ate the heads and then left. We caught it several hours later and both predators were the same thing. Minks.

 

[Chez Poulette]

I agree with many posts here. It doesn’t really matter what is getting them. You need to make the run safe. We used 1/4 inch hardware cloth on top and sides of run and dug down 3 feet and out 2 feet. The only thing gettin in there would be a bear and we don’t have bear in our area.
It’s hard to loose a pet, I feel for you.

 

[susan6sw]

I have a twenty by twenty chicken/duck yard with a large cedar tree in the middle and after a time when we would lose a bird about once a week, we ran wires over the top of the fencing and hooked it to an electric fence charger. It is the smallest size charger but really packs a wallop of current. It protects the entire outside length of the fence. It is easy to do this and inexpensive. You need 10-12 gauge wire, plastic connectors to hold the wires up, and a drill to hold the connectors onto the fence. Nothing has gotten inside my enclosure in 5 years. I do have a very large female black snake (5ft) who eats and occasional egg and keeps the mice away but doesn't bother the baby birds (Lucky me) Go to your regular feed store and they will help you out. It won't cost much and I have peace of mind knowing my birds are safe.