~ :-( My first predator attack ** It happened again!

[Dar]

I lost 2 chickens today...

I dont know who my enemy is yet though

what predator leaves very little evidence?
will take 2 chickens in the same day within 3 hours
did not rip the fence at all (3' fence)

I was thinking a raccoon

 

[deerman]

Fox , Bird of prey. coons will kill and leave pieces everywhere.

Night, or day ??

 

[Dar]

it happened between 6 and 9pm so still daylight...

and one chicken i lost was a silkie and the other was a mutt egg layer so a standard size


can an Osprey pick a chicken up and fly away with it?

 

[JLMom]

I believe ospreys hunt fish. If it was a bird, I would think hawk or eagle (depending where you are.)

 

[deerman]

Ospreys and Bald Eagles both prey mostly on fish. They do take birds sometime more like waterfowl. If you live near a lake could be one of these.

Only two taken, hawks,foxes, coyotes, all would grab and carry off,with young to feed they would come back for the 2nd chicken.

 

[cgmccary]

Fox or coyote, mostly likely. Takes the whole bird and as many as they can get at one time. What they don't eat, they take off, bury & eat later. If a bird of prey, there would likely be feathers and something left on a nearby fence post or somewhere (usually eats some of it there)-- also Bird of Prey mostly only take 1 per day.

Raccoons, opossums, weasels eat only certain parts & leave the rest & almost always go on killing spree (i.e. many more than 1).

 

[Dar]

UPDATE:
now that daylight has come I went and inspected the coops to see if I could figure out what happened..

CASE #1 Sheppard ...she came home

I think she got scared and went to a tree or something high to hide or under a bush

CASE#2 Greg...sadly he is gone....lots of feather evidence I am not really hopeful.

CASE#3 NEW CASE........ "Girlfriend" my DD fave chicken... she was counted last night (or so we think teen did the head count last night i think he double counted one of the others) well we have feather evidence but no body. She was a black sex link.

 

[dudekwm]

i was a ratcoon and it will come back if you dont fix the problem..... eather find out how to block it from getting in or kill it......i had 25 chikens killed a few years ago.

 

[Dar]

Quote:
there is not a "problem" area in the coop or run...they were free ranging at the time...so i guess one thing can be fixed...they wont be free ranging for a while....

 

[jafo]

Coons or skunks will kill and eat, and leave the mess. With no bodies, then it's most likely a coyote. Canada, could be grey wolf too. A three foot fence is nothing for a coyote or wolf with a mouthful, and he would come back for the second one, to feed young. Two gone, not likely a hawk or Eagle, and Osprey would PREFER fish.