Mysterious deaths (warning, photos of dead chickens inside)

[KarynVA]

True. I have seen a skunk that lives under our deck out and about during the day. I have also seen raccoons in our yard during the day but not this summer.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

If it was raining during the attack something could have gotten in by diggin under thr run, killed them (are their necks broken?) and gotten back out through the mud which would look undisturbed by morning. I don't know what would do that though and not eat them...

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Looking at the pictures though the birds aren't muddy so it must have happened after the rain? Also perhaps it didnt eat them because it was startled.

 

[NanaK]

I'm sorry I do not have much more to help. One thing is for sure, if this was a predator, they often return. May be tonight, tomorrow or next week. So be careful with the other birds.

 

[KarynVA]

Looking at the pictures though the birds aren't muddy so it must have happened after the rain? Also perhaps it didnt eat them because it was startled.

I always cover the run with a tarp when it rains so it really never gets muddy in there.

As to the idea that digging happened in the mud; the run and coop are surrounded by bricks all around so if something tried to dig, the bricks would have been rearranged/ disordered. That was not the case. The grass drains the water pretty quickly so there's never muddy puddling near the run that I've seen.

 

[NanaK]

One more thought....Do you let them out to free range any? Could they have got into something poisonous? mouse poison, a small bit of antifreeze on the ground where someone parks?
Could someone have slipped them something?

 

[KarynVA]

You guys! There is bear scat all OVER the yard! It's everywhere! I see now there is landscape disruption in a clear path around the back of the house almost to the chicken run but then it stops. The chicken run and coop show no evidence of claw marks, scrapes, having been shaken (bricks all around are in pristine rows like always).

Maybe they were scared to death by a bear; but then, why would the two smaller ones be fine? And why would one have so many feathers pulled out?

I'm so confused!

To answer @NanaK they never free range.

 

[NanaK]

I have seen my birds get scared and fly into the side of their enclosure. Totally freaked me out, thankfully no one was injured.

In your case the 2 females may have automatically ran inside the coop. The 2 boys may have stayed in the run and could have totally freaked out because they are in a small space. Bears look BIG to us imagine how big they look to a chicken! If they were repeatedly banging into the hardware cloth they could have been mortally injured. That is just a guess. I am so sorry this happened. We all do what we can but sometimes things are beyond our control.

I do not free range my birds either due to predators. They have a large enclosure. Maybe when you get this figured out you can consider giving them a bit more space. There are lots of ideas here on BYC. Some won't be very expensive since you only have a few birds.

A black bear was just sighted this week right down the road from me. He looked like a BIG one in the video I saw. I hope he and his family stay down the road too!

Again, I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[KarynVA]

@NanaK your hypothesis seems the most likely to me. They probably flew up in a panic and broke their necks on the top of the run/ floor of the coop above them. I still don't know how the feathers got pulled so thoroughly on that one part of one of the chickens, but I guess that will always be a mystery.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

If the bear did scare them to death (which I doubt because my mother lives in bear country and has had several raid her coops and never a chicken scared to death) that doesn't explain the missing feathers.