I have a 2 year old white Leghorn rooster and 5 Red Star/Golden Comet hens. They are kept in a large coop but can’t be let out because of a large fox population. They all get along fairly well.
3 times now in the morning my rooster has had blood on his white feathers from a tear in his comb. One time there were blood spatters on the inside wall of the coop. This is about a 6 week period and we are in the middle of winter in coastal Virginia. The hens are untouched.
There is chicken wire even over the top and a reinforced 2x4 on the bottom 2 feet, no sign of digging. The door for people has only the 2x4 wire on it.
We can’t figure out what is attacking him? A rat? No sign of one, but whatever it is is small enough to get through that wire I guess. There is nothing to get his head stuck anywhere and he is a fighter, attacking his human caregivers.
Thank you for any insight.
3 times now in the morning my rooster has had blood on his white feathers from a tear in his comb. One time there were blood spatters on the inside wall of the coop. This is about a 6 week period and we are in the middle of winter in coastal Virginia. The hens are untouched.
There is chicken wire even over the top and a reinforced 2x4 on the bottom 2 feet, no sign of digging. The door for people has only the 2x4 wire on it.
We can’t figure out what is attacking him? A rat? No sign of one, but whatever it is is small enough to get through that wire I guess. There is nothing to get his head stuck anywhere and he is a fighter, attacking his human caregivers.
Thank you for any insight.
Do you have a game camera. I know a camera won't protect your birds but it will show what is lurking around your coop and pen. I love my cameras. A few nights ago I had I think an owl attack one of my White Leghorn males. He was all bloody and there was blood in the coop and on a couple of the hens the next morning when I went out to check the cameras and the birds. I assume my predator was an owl because the only place something could have gotten in was a gap in the netting over the gate to that pen. Unfortunately it was foggy that night so nothing on the camera that points at that coop. I fixed the gap and no more issues. This is when I had some crappy netting when I ran short and an owl went through it and killed some birds. I replaced it with some good heavy duty netting and when the owl tried again got caught in the netting. A wildlife rescue came and got it. I have posted these pictures previously.
