Lost all my peeps :(

[DeadSpider]

Last night I checked on my 11 peeps about 3 weeks old and 5 bigger chickens that are about 4 months old. The peeps were in a pen next to my tractor that holds the 5 older chickens so they can get used to each other.

All was good so I went to take a shower. My wife took my two lil girls to check on them before they went to bed, all was good. After I finished up I went back out to double check water & food and found all my peeps ripped to shreds... it was sad. 9 were still in the pen, 2 were gone.

I assume it was a raccoon but I've never seen any in my area. There were a few small holes ripped in the mesh and one that was large enough for a cat or so to get in.

There have been two tiny dogs running about from time to time but I figure they would have ate the majority of the peeps, not pull them apart mostly and leave so much to waste.

Coon, dog... cat?

 

[ChknObssd]

OH no! Im so sorry that you lost your chicks!!

 

[chfite]

Was the damaged mesh 1/2 " hardware cloth or something else?

Chris

 

[JanetS]

So sorry for your loss. Do you have any pictures of the damage?? We use 1/2" hardware cloth on our coop and run. We've never had any losses(knocking on wood) while our chickens were in their pen. We lost a hen to a bobcat while they were free ranging. Didn't know we had bobcats in our area until then. We now use a game camera to see what is moving around our property. We have pictures of raccoons, bobcats, foxes, cats, and possums. It hard to really know what killed your chicks. I hope your little girls aren't to upset