Lost a few birds... Help as to what did it.

[Jon219]

In the past week, I have lost 7 birds, 4 pullets an adult Americauna and my largest Peking ducks. I've not had these issues before and believed my setup to be sufficient. I had the pullets in my portable coop, 1/4 chicken wire enclosing the coop, all were killed in mid day, while I was home, whatever killed them pulled them through the tiny openings and decapitated them. The adult hen was pulled directly through my big coop, only feathers were left, I think the openings were about 2 inches on that one. My ducks, one was killed at night while on the pond so I began to coop them at night ( only in a dog coop) . The one that was killed second, appeared to have been carried over the 6 foot fence ( blood and feather remnants on top of fence) note this was a very large duck. I live in Kentucky and I'm in the country. Any ideas, it looks to me like several different predators, but I could I use expert advise

 

[MercyMe03]

The ones that were pulled through the wire was likely done by a raccoon. I had the same thing happen a few weeks ago. It literally ripped 2 of my chicks through the chicken wire. It happened at night. The only thing that was left was feathers. We put an extra layer at the bottom of our chicken pen. As soon as we discovered what had happened we immediatly plyboard around the bottom of our pen. I have heard of alot of people using hardware cloth. We had lots of extra plyboard and figured that would be just as good. We also have a big problem with hawks and foxes around here. I have seen a fox walk through the backyard in the middle of day.

 

[Jon219]

Lost my last ducks today... I've got live traps and I'm shooting every raccoon I see, any suggestions for foxes, they are here too

 

[thomasboyle]

Very sorry for your losses. I double walled by coop's outdoor run. The frame work of the run is 2x4, and on the outside, I have heavy gauge 2"x4" field fencing. On the inside, I have 1/2" hardware wire. The outer fence keeps larger animals out - we have bears, bobcats, coyotes and raccoons, and the inner fence keeps anything from reaching in and grabbing any birds. I also have electric netting surrounding the yard area where they can free range a few hours a day, and I have 1 game camera covering the free range yard area and another covering the area between the yard and woods - most of the predators come from the woods, so if something does happen, hopefully I will have pics to see what it was, and how the attack happened.