Lost our whole flock today.

[andham]

Our family lost our whole flock today. We had six chickens. There is one remaining, but I do not expect her to make it. It was either a dog or a coyote. We have coyotes in the area, but I suspect it was a dog for the simple fact that it ripped hardware cloth completely off the screws and tore into the coop. I would not have thought it possible.

Sad day for our kids. The coop will be a fortress when the replacements arrive in the spring. Small comfort to our second grader who treated the chickens like puppies.

 

[DStewart PDX]

Man, that's hard. It sounds like it could be raccoons. I lost a lot of chickens early on, trying to figure out what they needed to be safe. My first coop was a wood frame with half inch hardware cloth stapled all along it. THe raccoon just reached under that edge with his fingers and ripped it right off. The next thing I did was rewrap it, taking the hardware cloth under the edges and stapling it down from the inside instead of the outside. No cut edge on the outside meant no fingers could slide underneath. No one ever ripped that wire again. Raccoons are vicious ********. So sorry about your flock. It's heartbreaking.

 

[Heidisgran]

Our family lost our whole flock today. We had six chickens. There is one remaining, but I do not expect her to make it. It was either a dog or a coyote. We have coyotes in the area, but I suspect it was a dog for the simple fact that it ripped hardware cloth completely off the screws and tore into the coop. I would not have thought it possible.

Sad day for our kids. The coop will be a fortress when the replacements arrive in the spring. Small comfort to our second grader who treated the chickens like puppies.

we woke up this morning to carnage....**** raccoons.....one coop we thought was secure...we work very hard to make them secure...I'm going to trap that SOB and kill it!! I haven't ever in my life thought I could kill anything...I have trouble trapping mice!! but I'm going to kill this predator!!!

 

[barnaclebob]

Were there washers over the screws or was it just the small lip of the screw holding the hardware cloth down? Our coop has screws with washers about every 18 inches, they will have to actually rip the hardware cloth to get in. Staples are also no good as they can be pulled out easily.

 

[joannefiddler]

Our family lost our whole flock today. We had six chickens. There is one remaining, but I do not expect her to make it. It was either a dog or a coyote. We have coyotes in the area, but I suspect it was a dog for the simple fact that it ripped hardware cloth completely off the screws and tore into the coop. I would not have thought it possible.

Sad day for our kids. The coop will be a fortress when the replacements arrive in the spring. Small comfort to our second grader who treated the chickens like puppies.

So very, very sorry for your loss. These are such heart wrenching lessons for our little ones...and painful for us too! If you could ever consider getting a livestock guardian dog...like a Great Pyrenees, I can highly recommend them. They live to protect whatever they believe their flock to be (chickens, goats, kids, etc). They have been known to keep predators as big as bears at bay, and they are wonderful with people and kids. They live outside...that's where they want to be. But, again, so sorry for your loss.

 

[aart]

Our family lost our whole flock today. We had six chickens. There is one remaining, but I do not expect her to make it. It was either a dog or a coyote. We have coyotes in the area, but I suspect it was a dog for the simple fact that it ripped hardware cloth completely off the screws and tore into the coop. I would not have thought it possible.

Sad day for our kids. The coop will be a fortress when the replacements arrive in the spring. Small comfort to our second grader who treated the chickens like puppies.

So Sorry for your loss.......could you post pics of how the HC was fastened and where it was ripped off? Might help others in the future.

 

[3chickchicks]

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry about your flock. How awful.

 

[MelissaTXRn]

So sorry.

 

[Curlita]

I'm so sorry. That is heart-breaking.

 

[oherin]

Sorry