- May 28, 2014
- 6
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- 9
We had eleven chickens in a pen outside at my house. We're new to chickens in the area and, for several weeks, they did alright. Last week we were on vacation for a week and when we got home we realized we were minus two chickens. Honestly, there was no trace of them so I didn't think much about it until the next morning when I saw one of my Rhode Island reds on the outside of the fence. I thought, "Well, I guess maybe they are jumping out and then wandering off to their doom".
The fence itself was (and is) 14 gauge welded wire with 2"x4" grids from Tractor Supply. The fence itself is 5' but we trenched it into the ground about 6-8" so it netted somewhere near 4.5' above ground. Given we were losing chickens, we put wildlife netting over the top of the entire cage suspecting, perhaps, an owl or aerial predator. We completed this project last night. Shortly after we went to bed, I heard the most blood curdling cry from the chickens (they are outside the bedroom window) so I ran outside with my rifle to investigate...not really sure what I'd find.
As it turns out, I didn't find much. Eight of the chickens were running around the pen and another three were in their coop, looking pretty scared. I should point out the coop at this juncture. The coop is small and it's just on the ground. It doesn't have a door (yet) because it had never been a problem. It's always been envisioned to be a temporary thing. After finding nothing in the pen or the coop (though it was dark and maybe I missed something) I went back to bed.
I heard one last kerfuffle above five minutes later but it was much less loud than the prior one. It didn't last long either so I just ignored it. When I woke up this morning and counted the chickens I was sad to realize I was missing a white one. The white one is somewhat crucial to the story because last night, when I'd investigated the sounds, one of the white ones had jumped up on the metal fencing and was perched there, terrified. She was between the netting (once again, just there for aerial protection) and the fence itself. She could have gone either way...back into the pen or out of it. I pushed her back in.
This morning I found no real evidence of struggle anywhere. As I was inspecting the fence (in which I found no holes in the metal fence) I noticed some white feathers on the ground. Near them, was a bigger pile of brown feathers...probably the previous end of my Rhode Island Red. I followed the white feathers further into the woods and found a bigger pile and, most gruesomely, a piece of chicken foot...but not much.
I've been reading the site all morning trying to understand what could have happened here. From all I read, if it was a mink, I would have expected to find a lot more dead chickens killed mostly for sport. Instead, I found barely a trace of any. There were minor gaps in the aerial netting that I guess an owl could have made it through. It would have seemed pretty difficult to fly through though, honestly. The only other thing I can think is that that same white chicken got terrified and left the pen later in the night and died outside of the cage.
I don't have a whole lot of things I think I can do at this point. I did buy one of those automatic chicken coops that I found on this site but just never installed it (I guess I'll do that tonight). From what I've read, the poultry netting isn't worth much and I really need to secure the coop. This does give me ideas for the permanent coop I build though. I need to make sure it is high enough that chickens can perch safely away from predators. Also, I'll make sure the door works.
I guess I'm really just curious if anyone might have an idea of what would be killing the chickens because it doesn't seem like a mink and I don't think a fox or coon could fit its head through 2"x4" but maybe I'm wrong.
Also, first post here but I really appreciate the site. I've learned a ton here. Thank you!
Updated picture of our coop...
The fence itself was (and is) 14 gauge welded wire with 2"x4" grids from Tractor Supply. The fence itself is 5' but we trenched it into the ground about 6-8" so it netted somewhere near 4.5' above ground. Given we were losing chickens, we put wildlife netting over the top of the entire cage suspecting, perhaps, an owl or aerial predator. We completed this project last night. Shortly after we went to bed, I heard the most blood curdling cry from the chickens (they are outside the bedroom window) so I ran outside with my rifle to investigate...not really sure what I'd find.
As it turns out, I didn't find much. Eight of the chickens were running around the pen and another three were in their coop, looking pretty scared. I should point out the coop at this juncture. The coop is small and it's just on the ground. It doesn't have a door (yet) because it had never been a problem. It's always been envisioned to be a temporary thing. After finding nothing in the pen or the coop (though it was dark and maybe I missed something) I went back to bed.
I heard one last kerfuffle above five minutes later but it was much less loud than the prior one. It didn't last long either so I just ignored it. When I woke up this morning and counted the chickens I was sad to realize I was missing a white one. The white one is somewhat crucial to the story because last night, when I'd investigated the sounds, one of the white ones had jumped up on the metal fencing and was perched there, terrified. She was between the netting (once again, just there for aerial protection) and the fence itself. She could have gone either way...back into the pen or out of it. I pushed her back in.
This morning I found no real evidence of struggle anywhere. As I was inspecting the fence (in which I found no holes in the metal fence) I noticed some white feathers on the ground. Near them, was a bigger pile of brown feathers...probably the previous end of my Rhode Island Red. I followed the white feathers further into the woods and found a bigger pile and, most gruesomely, a piece of chicken foot...but not much.
I've been reading the site all morning trying to understand what could have happened here. From all I read, if it was a mink, I would have expected to find a lot more dead chickens killed mostly for sport. Instead, I found barely a trace of any. There were minor gaps in the aerial netting that I guess an owl could have made it through. It would have seemed pretty difficult to fly through though, honestly. The only other thing I can think is that that same white chicken got terrified and left the pen later in the night and died outside of the cage.
I don't have a whole lot of things I think I can do at this point. I did buy one of those automatic chicken coops that I found on this site but just never installed it (I guess I'll do that tonight). From what I've read, the poultry netting isn't worth much and I really need to secure the coop. This does give me ideas for the permanent coop I build though. I need to make sure it is high enough that chickens can perch safely away from predators. Also, I'll make sure the door works.
I guess I'm really just curious if anyone might have an idea of what would be killing the chickens because it doesn't seem like a mink and I don't think a fox or coon could fit its head through 2"x4" but maybe I'm wrong.
Also, first post here but I really appreciate the site. I've learned a ton here. Thank you!
Updated picture of our coop...
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