Lost all 6 chickens today

[threescompany]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[LMH0507]

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and suggestions. Some lessons are learned the hard way. Hopefully this won't happen again.

 

[Carl77]

Sorry for your loss! I lost 2 of my chickens to a pair of racoons 2 weeks ago, after a trap and my gun, problem got solved, they went over a 6' fence and took the chickens just left feathers.

 

[tinakevin]

My son has a husky and he has no problem jumping a 6 ft fence ( the husky not my son lol)

 

[LMH0507]

This is the paw print of whatever killed the chickens below my thumb. I can't tell if it is coyote or dog. If it is a dog, it would be a small dog and thus (i think) unable to get over the fence if it were a dog that small. Thoughts?

 

[Duke84]

Sorry for your loss... If you decide to install electric fencing it may not hurt to run it at the top AND bottom of the enclosment. If they can't go over the top they may try digging underneath. Especially now that they know there's food inside. What a bummer :-(

 

[mimsy]

You'd be surprised at how small dogs can jump a fence. My old Pomeranian who passed away now, used to jump the 6 foot fence. She would get a running start and basically just run right up the side and then scramble her butt over the top. Took us a few to figure it out, she'd go over the fence around the front of the house and then bark to come in through the front door...she was a demon. However, most dogs as small as her probably would not kill a chicken, or at least not a bunch of them.

Coyotes I'm sure would have no problem jumping it.

I'm very sorry for your loss. We keep our pitbull and our Aussie out with the chickens from the time they come out in the morning till it's time for the coop to get closed up for the night. Keeps unwanted guests out of our yard, and we don't forget to close up the coop because they want in at dark fall and will bark at our door when it's time. The Aussie is 19 now and probably wouldn't care if a coyote walked across his back and then snacked on chickens next to him, but our 12 year pit still keeps guard well. (wish they didn't get old, I really don't relish finding such good dogs again)

 

[bigoledude]

YouTube is loaded with videos of dogs climbing right up walls to incredible heights!! Where coyotes are plentiful they have learned to circumvent many barriers we thought were secure enough. They quickly find that domestic animals require much less effort to capture and kill. In California along the desert, they have wiped out the rabbit and deer population and feed almost exclusively on dogs and cats now. You can drive past hundreds of subdivisions and not find one dog loose in a backyard!!

You have been given some excellent advice here. A cheap warning system you might consider is a motion detector made from the flood light fixture you would mount around the eaves of your house. Remove the bulbs and replace with a small screw-in adapter that has a regular 3-prong 110 volt receptacle.. You then run an extension cord from this receptacle to the house plugged into a radio or whatever you have that would make enough noise to wake you.

In other words rather than the motion detector turning on lights, it would alert you. You must be prepared to kill whatever the culprit is at a moment's notice. Trail cams will give you a perfect view of what your killer is. An electric wire will zap-da-crap out of any intruder!!

When you factor the cost of the chicks, feed, time and energy spent caring for them and any vitamins/vaccines you have a good bit invested in them. Not to mention how attached we get to our birds.

You need to find out what it is and kill it. I promise it will return looking for another easy meal.

 

[junebuggena]

6 foot fences are no obstacle to coyotes, foxes, and racoons. All three can go right over.

 

[boosterpacksmom]

So sorry for your loss