Lost my first girl to a predator last night..

[Iheartchickens7]

I have a few acres for my chickens and guineas to roam and have been letting them out daily (when I am home) from early afternoon to before dark. there are a lot of woods and coverage in our yard mixed with pasture.

I go out a few times an hour to do a headcount and check up on everyone. I saw them in my back field at around 4-4:30 and thought everything was fine. When I went to do my bedtime check one girl was missing.

I thought there was no trace of her, but today when I did a thorough inspection of my property I found a big pile of black feathers from a bird who was not missing (turns out it was my favorite girl who is a little lighter in the tail and wing now) and a trail of black and white feathers from my missing barred rock. I tried peeking onto the neighbors property to see if I could see anything, but could not. The spot that the incident occurred borders their property (woods) so I can't really investigate too much further.

I know that they have dogs, but have never once seen one on my property. I am thinking either fox or coyote. Something big enough to carry her off. Would either of those animals be more likely than the other to grab a bird in daylight? We also have fishers.

They are contained in their pen until further notice since I know whatever it is that got a free meal yesterday will be back. I would like to hope that some day I can let them out to roam again…I do realize that it is always a gamble when you let them free range, I was just hoping I wouldn't lose one this soon.

Does anyone have any tips on how to determine what I am dealing with and how I should move forward from here?

Thanks.

 

[Lifetime chicken lover]

It hard to know who the culprit is...aside from putting out a game camera. But it doesn't really matter? You have a hunter out there, and you are right, it will be back for more. I lost almost a whole flock of 5 one by one because I didn't protect them after the first attack(s). So, the way I rationalized it, you have two options. Let them roam and risk losing them (even with a guard dog it is inevitable), or keep them locked up. After I lost almost a whole flock of chickens, I finally decided that their freedom was less important than their lives. I am working on building a tractor to let them out in the grass a bit, but for now, they are coop and run bound. I have noticed that since I've kept them locked up, there seem to be fewer signs of predators in our yard. So perhaps if you only let them out once a week, the predators won't know when to look...I don't know.
Sorry about your loss. Good luck!

 

[Gargoyle]

I'm sorry to hear this. Can you run an electric fence along the property border? They're not too expensive.

 

[Iheartchickens7]

Thank you both for your replies.
The game camera is set up, which probably means not one animal will step foot on that part of my property now! I have thought of electric fencing but I just don't know if it would be a good idea with the deer that have trails through my property.. not sure how it would affect them. I will have to look into the cost and see if it is an option to maybe section off portions of the property,

I am sorry that you lost so much of your flock, I had losses a few years back because the coop was not secure. We sent the lone survivor to live with a friend and gave up on the chicken life for a while but I missed them too much. Now the coop is like fort knox and the yard is the problem. Go figure! It is terrible to lose them, I am sad today but at the same time grateful that I got my warning with a single bird and not several birds.

I think rotational free ranging is probably a good idea.. thank you for that. Keep predators on their toes and avoid developing a pattern. I think I am going to work on securing my run a little better as well, just in case whoever it is decides to get brave and try to get in there.

Thanks again for the replies and advice

 

[Nathan Sampson]

The electric fence will not affect the deer. It might disrupt them for a few days but after that they will adapt. Sorry about your loss though.

 

[Iheartchickens7]

Good to know. Thanks for the info!

 

[Lifetime chicken lover]

Thank you both for your replies.
The game camera is set up, which probably means not one animal will step foot on that part of my property now! I have thought of electric fencing but I just don't know if it would be a good idea with the deer that have trails through my property.. not sure how it would affect them. I will have to look into the cost and see if it is an option to maybe section off portions of the property,

I am sorry that you lost so much of your flock, I had losses a few years back because the coop was not secure. We sent the lone survivor to live with a friend and gave up on the chicken life for a while but I missed them too much. Now the coop is like fort knox and the yard is the problem. Go figure! It is terrible to lose them, I am sad today but at the same time grateful that I got my warning with a single bird and not several birds.

I think rotational free ranging is probably a good idea.. thank you for that. Keep predators on their toes and avoid developing a pattern. I think I am going to work on securing my run a little better as well, just in case whoever it is decides to get brave and try to get in there.

Thanks again for the replies and advice

I had the same problem with the coop a few years ago. I now also have a fort knox coop, but the yard remains the problem. We are on the river, practically surrounded by woods...so we have a plethora of wild predators.
I am curious to hear whether the rotation method works- let us know. I am afraid to try it...I just can't bear losing another bird. I love the birds I have now and would hate to lose a single one.
The fact that there were a lot of feathers makes me think that it's probably a land-bound creature- whenever my birds were taken by a bird of prey, there was no sign left behind. So you have a good chance of catching your culprit on cam.