We've had our chickens for almost two years, but this is our first predator scare. We live in Maine, the weather is slowly warming up, and I've just cleaned out the coup this morning.
Because we've never really dealt with predators, and because the snow/cold often seals doors shut, we've left the door to our chicken enclosure open. We leave the chickens to put themselves away at night and don't worry about letting them back out in the morning, up until tonight, things had been fine, but as most people on here would tell you, predators will eventually find the chickens.
It's 11 at night, and I hear a chicken outside. That's- obviously not normal. I throw on my boots and a coat, not bothering to fasten either, and race outside. I find a chicken-like shape in the yard, about a hundred feet from the enclosure. I hear something run away, breaking branches as it went. My hen is in shock, but she's alive. I got there in time. I checked over her as best I can this late at night, and I made sure the others were safe in the coup before returning her and locking them up properly.
They should be safe now. The enclosure we have is wonderful for keeping predators out, so long as we close the door.
So I'm wondering what we should look out for.
The hen was very distressed. She is a Buff Orpington hen, and she is just a little under a year old. We didn't see any obvious injuries, and after her bout of shock, she got up and was walking fine. She's dropping a lot of feathers though and makes these gargles/grumbly sounds. In the morning I'm going to check on her and the others again. Looks everyone over to make sure none of them are hurt or are being picked on by the others. But anything specific I should look for in a potentially injured or traumatized hen would be helpful.
The animal, what could it have been? It's late at night. It didn't kill her immediately. Instead, it tried to steal her away. For some reason, it had dragged her towards my house, though to be fair, the only other ways were the road and the neighbor's houses. I would like to let the chickens out again in the morning and lock them up only at night. I think the animal might be nocturnal, but I know some predators are sneaky, they learn which times the chickens will be unattended eventually. So maybe I should keep them locked up for a week before letting them free range again. We do have a rooster, but he wasn't much help tonight, he may be a bit better at protecting the rest in the morning though.
Because we've never really dealt with predators, and because the snow/cold often seals doors shut, we've left the door to our chicken enclosure open. We leave the chickens to put themselves away at night and don't worry about letting them back out in the morning, up until tonight, things had been fine, but as most people on here would tell you, predators will eventually find the chickens.
It's 11 at night, and I hear a chicken outside. That's- obviously not normal. I throw on my boots and a coat, not bothering to fasten either, and race outside. I find a chicken-like shape in the yard, about a hundred feet from the enclosure. I hear something run away, breaking branches as it went. My hen is in shock, but she's alive. I got there in time. I checked over her as best I can this late at night, and I made sure the others were safe in the coup before returning her and locking them up properly.
They should be safe now. The enclosure we have is wonderful for keeping predators out, so long as we close the door.
So I'm wondering what we should look out for.
The hen was very distressed. She is a Buff Orpington hen, and she is just a little under a year old. We didn't see any obvious injuries, and after her bout of shock, she got up and was walking fine. She's dropping a lot of feathers though and makes these gargles/grumbly sounds. In the morning I'm going to check on her and the others again. Looks everyone over to make sure none of them are hurt or are being picked on by the others. But anything specific I should look for in a potentially injured or traumatized hen would be helpful.
The animal, what could it have been? It's late at night. It didn't kill her immediately. Instead, it tried to steal her away. For some reason, it had dragged her towards my house, though to be fair, the only other ways were the road and the neighbor's houses. I would like to let the chickens out again in the morning and lock them up only at night. I think the animal might be nocturnal, but I know some predators are sneaky, they learn which times the chickens will be unattended eventually. So maybe I should keep them locked up for a week before letting them free range again. We do have a rooster, but he wasn't much help tonight, he may be a bit better at protecting the rest in the morning though.
