- Jun 28, 2013
- 7
- 0
- 7
My 9-year-old son made a very upsetting discovery this evening. Of our 14 fully grown chickens, 5 totally disappeared today and 5 are dead but visibly intact from what I can tell at night. (I will investigate the carcasses better in the daylight.)
The birds have a secure coop but free range during the day in an enclosed 1/3 acre tree covered hillside along with our 4 Nigerian Dwarf goats. The pen is fenced with 4 foot high, 2" x 4" non-climb, horse fencing down to the ground. Our Rhode Island Red rooster was one of the chickens left for dead. I imagine he put up a good fight as his two favorite hens were among the carcasses as well. Feathers are everywhere. Some areas have a concentration of feathers with no chicken remains and then there are areas where feathers are strewn erratically across the ground. There is one spot on high ground by the coop with a lot of white feathers from one of the Brahmas and then a trail of them down the hillside leading to her body, as if she were dragged.
It has been raining a lot over the past 3 days and I have not been outside much at all. My son said he saw the chickens and heard the rooster this morning before school. I was gone most of the day. Over the past year we have only lost 2 chickens and that only happened because the flock got out of the goat pen and we couldn't get them all back in before roosting time. And that was on two separate occasions so I consider that a pretty good record. I have not seen any stray dogs. There is a feral cat that hangs around and a domestic one but they have never been an issue for the years we've had chickens. My neighbor (who also has chickens) lost one two days ago. She said she saw a huge raccoon outside her coop a couple weeks ago but he didn't do anything...at that point. I am at a loss for type of predator. Dog would explain the dead birds, but the 5 missing ones? And I would think if there was a raccoon, then the carcasses would have some visible damage? Like I said, I will investigate more in am, but any insight from anyone would be appreciated. Thanks.
Sad in NY
The birds have a secure coop but free range during the day in an enclosed 1/3 acre tree covered hillside along with our 4 Nigerian Dwarf goats. The pen is fenced with 4 foot high, 2" x 4" non-climb, horse fencing down to the ground. Our Rhode Island Red rooster was one of the chickens left for dead. I imagine he put up a good fight as his two favorite hens were among the carcasses as well. Feathers are everywhere. Some areas have a concentration of feathers with no chicken remains and then there are areas where feathers are strewn erratically across the ground. There is one spot on high ground by the coop with a lot of white feathers from one of the Brahmas and then a trail of them down the hillside leading to her body, as if she were dragged.
It has been raining a lot over the past 3 days and I have not been outside much at all. My son said he saw the chickens and heard the rooster this morning before school. I was gone most of the day. Over the past year we have only lost 2 chickens and that only happened because the flock got out of the goat pen and we couldn't get them all back in before roosting time. And that was on two separate occasions so I consider that a pretty good record. I have not seen any stray dogs. There is a feral cat that hangs around and a domestic one but they have never been an issue for the years we've had chickens. My neighbor (who also has chickens) lost one two days ago. She said she saw a huge raccoon outside her coop a couple weeks ago but he didn't do anything...at that point. I am at a loss for type of predator. Dog would explain the dead birds, but the 5 missing ones? And I would think if there was a raccoon, then the carcasses would have some visible damage? Like I said, I will investigate more in am, but any insight from anyone would be appreciated. Thanks.
Sad in NY
