So I have been having problems with disappearing chickens in the night. Always between certain times. In this case it was between 3am and 5am. My chicks and chickens completely disappeared, one at a time every night. No feathers, no blood, nothing but startled chicken noises in the dark. The only predators capable of getting in were climbers or aerial. My quail pen had previously been torn open in a corner. A higher gauge wire ended that problem. I began going out late at night to catch the unknown predator at which time I was able to identify it as opossum. The MO slightly changed. I now found chickens with the heads and necks eaten as they would start at the head and work down until they were caught or drawn off. They got somewhat sloppy and left a few feathers behind but still not many, as they would eat the chicken feathers and all. I tried live traps with sardines. Ultimately the best way to deal with them was catching them in the act and giving them swift justice with a steel bat. I made sure I got a good head shot and left them dead until morning. Oh, and their was more then one. This is the third killed in the past 4 weeks. Now I am loading up fish smelling poison and live traps.
