Murder Mystery, what killed my chicks??????

[MINDANAO DAVE]

That's what i thought, they were all very big (may have been close to 9 weeks I picked them up from my local feed store and they had a mix of 1-2 weeks olds that i picked from) and my full grown chicken and ducks i thought would be a deterrent to something small like a rat. I put the food up at night and it's stored in an airtight container and the run backs up to my house on one side and has chicken wire other than a screen door on the other 3 sides. I don't have any hawk cloth over the top because it does back up to the house and that usually deters the hawks that a out in droves this year.

You need to get a baby monitor if you get more and you should be able to hear any ruckus going on inside there when you're sleeping or in the house. They work good.

 

[Mraya]

The coops have roofs and they are lifted up off the ground so the chickens can go under them or in them for coverage but the run itself does not have a cover, with it backing up onto the house we didn't feel it necessary as being so close to the house has deterred predatory birds

I would cover your run. A hawk took one of my chicks not 10 ft from my back door while I was out side with them. It just dove in snatched it up and took off.

 

[Birdsong 82]

Definitely definitely put a cover on your run. And is there Any type of skirt at the bottom? Before I put one there I had a raccoon be able to sleep it’s little hand under there and pull the chicken out. No dick marks or anything. I don’t even understand how he got his little arm and they are in Pulled a chicken out. I live in a high predator area so we go full force on the coop. Especially after that incident. Do you have a picture of your coop and run?

 

[DempsK01]

Moot point now, the rest of my birds were killed the next day within 30 minutes of me being gone in the middle of the day :-( my friend around the camera lost her flock the next day in the same way, but she has a trail cam in her run and so she knows her culprit is a young bobcat

 

[Cayuga momma]

From the paw print I would have guessed a Bobcat too! Again I am so sorry for your loss!

 

[Birdsong 82]

I am so sorry for your loss. That is heartbreaking. But there is a point. With the help of BYC community we can help you with some tips with predator proofing. I got a lot of tips from this site and came up with a lot also. Since we totally revamped and predator proofed like crazy we have not lost another chicken yet. We have bobcats coyotes raccoons weasels and foxes around. And I know they been in my yard I’ve seen them but they can’t get in that coop. Again I am Really sorry for your loss. I would be devastated also. You could use this as an opportunity to remodel and turn it into Fort Knox

 

[deepbluesea]

I'm so sorry for your loss! That's hard stuff. Best wishes from a fellow NC person.