Lost my first chicken yesterday

[ampho]

One of my sweetest chickens, a buff orphington was taken in daytime over a 5' chain link fence and dragged about 100 feet, only neck broken, my husband thinks fox or coyote? We have bears too but they only seem interested in bird feeder. It happened so fast he thinks we scared it off by following the trail, found her and buried her. So sad...I try to only let them free when we are outside I was inside for just a few minutes...anyone have any thoughts on what it could have been?

 

[BayBay Peepers]

Fox, coyote, racoon (I know they're usually nighttime, but I lost one to a coon in the day), some kind of weasel even?

I'm sorry for your loss

 

[ampho]

could a weasel carry it over the fence...I know we have them, have never seen one myself. And could a raccoon catch one in the open? I wish I knew, we have a yard cam but of course the battery was dead. I am going to keep them locked up for awhile unless I am on top of them...the coop is electrified so we don't have a night time issue. And the other chickens (not that bright) just stood in the middle of the yard squawking...didn't even try to hide...

Need that dog in your picture..got any puppies?! Since my lab died, my yard is open season...Mother and baby bear this morning looking for my bird feeder which we take in at night. Thanks for the thoughts!

 

[Andrei]

Wow sorry to hear you lost a chicken. I haven't lost one yet and only let them free range out of their run if I'm in the yard with them. Maybe you should build a small pen that's covered for them to be able to graze and be safe from predators if you leave the yard.

 

[ampho]

they have a pretty large run but of course the grass is gone from it...I was more worried about hawks before! I had just walked inside when it happened...! They are 18 months old...the only real threat has been a squirrel that harasses them and a few snakes they surrounded...I guess I will go back to my paranoid state with them!

 

[BayBay Peepers]

There are so many predators it's hard to think of every possible scenario. Our run is covered, but we also free range from sun up to sun down. If they see a hawk they hide in the bushes or under a nearby trailer we have set up for them. Our rooster is really good at spotting threats for them. I hope you don't have to go through this again, I know it's never easy.