Missing without a trace, 4 in a week

[BlackBart]

Almost exact thing was happening to my Neighbors chickens.
Poof vanished, no feathers, no sound.

He raises Hawks and Falcons so he knows what that type of predator would do to a chicken.

He put up a three string fence of electric and no more chickens disappeared.
I think it was a Cougar because there is a young one living not too far away from us. Maybe a mile away.

 

[Mark]

Some good news and some bad. First, the good. It turns out that the last hen to disappear was not a victim, she has gone broody. To our delight, we discovered she had made a nest in an old horse feeder high on a sheet metal wall inside our horse shed. Unfortunately, we also found a second pile of feathers. It was dark and so far in the brush that we haven't identified the bird, yet. This leaves one bird still unaccounted for.

 

[Mark]

We had some time to search the brush for feathers and came across signs of 3 chickens in about a 20 foot diameter area. The largest group of feathers was from a very light tan colored bird, and we doubt it is one of ours. Our neighbor has chickens, and it might be one of theirs. The other two were probably ours. There was no carcass or bones, just feathers.

 

[Hollyoak Ranch]

Sure sounds like a coyote to me. I have had coyotes wipe out an entire flock in short order.

Usually there were no traces. However, after walking the fences we found holes dug under them. More searching for clues turned up numerous feathers in a circular area on my neighbor's property. We filled in the holes and blocked them with wood only to have the coyote dig another hole elsewhere. Typically on my farm, coyotes and foxes do not eat the chicken where they catch it. They cart it off. Hawks, coons, and skunks will kill and eat what they can right where they kill it. Coons are the worst and leave a bloody mess. I've had them kill a full grown goose with a bite to the neck, drag its body over to the fence, and attempt to pull it through the fence from the other side! They gave up and just ate the head and neck off. Horrible! Another neighbor has witnessed coyotes actually waiting in the brush (in broad daylight) for them to leave the chicken area and then they come out and grab and run.

Previously, we had hot wire on top and bottom of fence and didn't have a lick of trouble for several years. The hot wire needs replacing now so I don't have my chickens in that pasture until it is fixed. They are in a heavy chicken tractor my husband made for the time being. Predation has been such a problem here that I am looking into getting a donkey or llama to help protect them. Otherwise, they have to be in a completely predator proof pen.

Hope this helps and you get your problem solved before you lose any more.


Susan

 

[Mark]

Our next-door neighbors have free range chickens, too. I checked with them to see if they had lost a yellow chicken.

Indeed, they had lost a number of chickens over the last two weeks. They said they had become complacent, and didn't always close up their coops at night. A raccoon got in and killed 5 birds. Several others had simply disappeared. They recognized the yellow feather description. It was one of their 'named' chickens.

Last night at about 10 PM, for the first time I can remember, one of our labs started barking at something behind our backyard fence. She hardly ever barks at all. There is nothing but brush and open territory on the other side. A minute after we went out to see what was up, our big St. Bernard mix followed and immediately bounded through the fence (much to our surprise) and took off into the darkness. There was only silence after that. A minute or two later, he came back. I have no idea what was arousing them.

Obviously, I need to step up my trapping.

 

[jjthink]

Quote:
Some people just should not have chickens

JJ