- Jun 15, 2008
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First mites, then gnats, and now.. something... Over night all but 3 of the over 2 dozen chicks I hatched so far this year went missing without a trace. I opened the coop one morning and they were gone. My husband thought they were there the night before but wasn't sure so odd but ok they are fairly small and edible by lots of things. They also have slept under the coop before so maybe they'll reappear. This evening we went to close the coop and it was empty. Not a single chicken. We checked the standard coop and found 4 of the bantam hens in with them but not the bantam roo that kept trying to roost in there instead of the bantam coop. Searched the yard and no feathers or bodies. No tracks, no damage, no feathers, no dead chickens.... What can take a dozen adults and 2 dozen chicks in a little over a day and night without leaving a killing field? I thought foxes but the last dog attack we had coated the yard in feathers. Weasels? Same thing. Owls? Hawks? They wouldn't take 3 dozen in that short of time even if they could do it without leaving a pile of feathers behind. All I can think of that could do this is a human. So we have the remaining bantams and standards padlocked in to the big coop together and my grandpa coming over with a shotgun. Some one tell me you have another idea cause living in the middle of nowhere with rarely locked doors it's not too comforting to think some person is running about the property. At least if anyone so much as touches the door knob they are going to find themselves staring in the window at 100lbs of growling dog.
