Lost my top girl today. 😢

[hayley3]

Update:

I had been getting an old 10 x 10 dog kennel ready to use as a frame for a coop. The spacing between the bars were a bit too big for some of the chicks, so I had already gotten the chicken wire fencing and went around the entire base.

Got some heavy duty tarps and covered the top with one using bungee cords to secure. Also covered the back and about 2/3 of each side. Left the front open air.

Put in a makeshift roost with a board across two tall buckets.

I had to wait till dusk so I could catch them all.

They were all a bit stressed and bunched up near the fencing. They don’t really roost yet to sleep.

Hopefully this will work for now.

Is this your night-time or daytime setup?

 

[nao57]

I like it. Sounds neat.

Hope it works out.

You could also put up some old plywood shouts around the entrance at an angle to help steer them into it, until they get used to it being 'home'.

 

[JukeboxJenny]

Aw man! I’m sorry! We had a similar situation and it was a fox.
May I ask what breed she is? She’s lovely!

 

[ryder lake]

I have free rangers in my backyard.

I’m outside a lot and have hiding places for the birds.

I was inside for about an hour (Happened between 10a-11a) and came out to my girl dead on the ground and her head was missing.

No trail. Minimal blood where her body lay. Not many feathers.

Do hawks just take heads? She was 3 months old, so not adult, but still not tiny.
View attachment 2228066

All the others were hiding well, and two of them were hidden so well I had to search.

I will be building an enclosed run in the next month.

I know this is a part of “farm life” and I will adjust, just a bit sad.

She would come onto the porch and talk to me when I had food. It was as if she was presenting her argument about why I should share.

She almost always won the argument

That sounds like a weasel, they will do that, if it was a raccoon, it would have tore it up, and ate it more. weasels tend to bite chickens in the head, quite common trate, becareful i can assure you it will be back.

 

[ryder lake]

That sounds like a weasel, they will do that, if it was a raccoon, it would have tore it up, and ate it more. weasels tend to bite chickens in the head, quite common trate, becareful i can assure you it will be back.

they can clean out an entire flock in short time.

 

[MrsTush]

Awww! I'm so sorry! I lost one of my guineas to a huge snake last night so I totally understand. I'm sad and pissed...and now paranoid. It is part of raising them but it still sucks badly.

 

[Onyxflock]

Update:

I had been getting an old 10 x 10 dog kennel ready to use as a frame for a coop. The spacing between the bars were a bit too big for some of the chicks, so I had already gotten the chicken wire fencing and went around the entire base.

Got some heavy duty tarps and covered the top with one using bungee cords to secure. Also covered the back and about 2/3 of each side. Left the front open air.

Put in a makeshift roost with a board across two tall buckets.

I had to wait till dusk so I could catch them all.

They were all a bit stressed and bunched up near the fencing. They don’t really roost yet to sleep.

Hopefully this will work for now.

What is wonderful about the dog pen is that you can buy more panels if you want to make it larger. I have one 10x20 now and gates on 2 sides. Hoping for a solid cover by next year. The tarps are wearing out!

 

[Molly Mojo]

Aw man! I’m sorry! We had a similar situation and it was a fox.
May I ask what breed she is? She’s lovely!

She was a Delaware.

 

[Molly Mojo]

What is wonderful about the dog pen is that you can buy more panels if you want to make it larger. I have one 10x20 now and gates on 2 sides. Hoping for a solid cover by next year. The tarps are wearing out!

Yes, mine looks rag-tag in the outside, but they all seem to like it.

I’ve been setting frozen bottles of water In the afternoon and rotate them at night time, since it’s been hot.

I have top and 3 sides heavy duty tarped. Then I have a crap tarp doubled over and just hanging loosely in front so I can adjust it for shade.

 

[Chickin Out]

I would just bury her aways away from the coop.