MY CHICKENS ARE GONE TONIGHT!

[shawluvsbirds]

http://articles.extension.org/pages/71204/predator-management-for-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks
I do hope your chickens come home in the morning
Here is a neat site that describes different predator behaviors.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

The only thing that I will say about a Red Tail Hawk flying off with, or not flying off with a full or standard size chicken is that a dead chicken or even a struggling live hen or rooster will have so many dangling, useless, non-functioning, body parts dangling in the slip stream of a hawk or owl that it will prove impossible for the chicken thief to get enough lift or speed to get airborne or to keep itself airborne. There is more to a hawk not flying off with a 4 or 5 pound chicken than a mere 64 or 80 ounces of dead chicken in tow. Come to think of it, air resistance is the reason that arrows, and bullets are streamlined while dead leaves or empty cardboard boxes are not.

Some how, in the furthermost recesses of my old befuddled brain, I seriously doubt that AT&T is an expert on chicken husbandry or that anyone who works for AT&T has a PhD in Comparative Hawk Attacks on old Gallus Gallus Domesticus.

 

[RWise]

Good luck! I too have lost birds in this manner. but just because they are out of pocket does not mean they have meet their end. I had a hen seemingly vanish, watching the yard closely she showed up clucking and wings out,, yep broody setting on a hidden nest!
Of course it has most often meant the bird meet it's end.

 

[Relleoms]

Good news this morning, I hope?!?!?

 

[Kessel23]

I have ALOT of barn owls, can they pick up and go away with a large chicken? I understand the littler one but the large one is my biggest, she is quite heavy

Barn owls have great trouble picking up even a small 5 lb rabbit, they would definitely not be able to take off with a full bird, even GHO can't lift more than 10 lb, they have to rip off wings, leggs, heads, and feet of their prey and take parts away. 2 winters ago a GHO killed one of my rabbits, it was under 10 lbs and the GHO had to rip off the rabbit head and it still could not take the rabbit so it just took the head. I woke up that morning to find a headless rabbit in the snow and large wing prints behind it and in front of it. The wing prints were GHO size and the head was found half eaten 50ft away under a apple tree. GHO will return to the kill for several days in the winter because the cold keeps the meat fresh and mostly scentless, that owl was back the next night to take the full rabbit body but you could tell from the trail he was having trouble, he never even got it up into a tree, he just dragged it 20ft then gave up and started to eat. The next night a fox came by and took advantage of the free meal.

 

[Chickalish]

Betty is the black cuckoo maran & Phoenix is the red EE. I searched the ravine until 3:30 am and can in exhausted. I found an area of Betty's down this morning in the light an a football field away one of her regular feathers. These are the first of her feathers I've ever gotten, she never sheds then. I have found no signs of Phoenix. I am so crushed. I lost 2 to illness in 2017 and now these two. This is horrible. I will especially miss Betty so much, Thank you all who gave encouraging words while I was devastated last night. I appreciate the comfort it gave me while I could do nothing. There is too little of that going around anymore. I did have to hit ignore a couple times. Words affect people, especially when they are hurting. I'm glad some of you realized that and I learned something form you for it. When I read someone's pain, I will no longer pass on by, I will leave comfort too. People need that.Thank you again.

 

[Mylied]

View attachment 1267727 Betty is the black cuckoo maran & Phoenix is the red EE. I searched the ravine until 3:30 am and can in exhausted. I found an area of Betty's down this morning in the light an a football field away one of her regular feathers. These are the first of her feathers I've ever gotten, she never sheds then. I have found no signs of Phoenix. I am so crushed. I lost 2 to illness in 2017 and now these two. This is horrible. I will especially miss Betty so much, Thank you all who gave encouraging words while I was devastated last night. I appreciate the comfort it gave me while I could do nothing. There is too little of that going around anymore. I did have to hit ignore a couple times. Words affect people, especially when they are hurting. I'm glad some of you realized that and I learned something form you for it. When I read someone's pain, I will no longer pass on by, I will leave comfort too. People need that.Thank you again.

I'm sorry they weren't there this morning. I was really hoping for you. Having chickens can be a roller coaster of emotions. They are so sweet and fun to watch, but every predator wants to go after them. I hate to do it but I keep mine in a covered coop and run. I lost too many when I didn't.

 

[Morrigan]

I'm so very sorry for your losses. It's the worst part about owning pets.

 

[Relleoms]

Well that just sucks (pardon the expression). So sorry for your loss

 

[Boonie Stomper]

So sorry about your birds' fate. But hoping you realise they had happy free lived until. Then they let some wildlive have some happiness and health.
We all learn from experience so keep chin high don't give up and realise why chickens make so many baby chicks naturally is because their predation is a nature-calculated risk ...You know the sayingsayingg, 'if at first you don't succeed. ...'
...so get some more birds and be better at outsmarting the culprits so your birds atill get range time.
ideas...start with big near mature or mature replacements (perhaps rescue or adopt from BYC)... deter or destroy the culprit with better success using otber threads on BYC.... -bait and wait to see if you can catch footprints or pboto &/or live trap
etcetera . Be vigilant that all birds are secured after dark .