TopsyTriceratops
Hatching
- Jul 21, 2017
- 2
- 0
- 2
Hello, everyone! I have little time for introduction as I am in DESPERATE need to figure out what to do! My mother has many chicken pens, and she loves her chickens to death. Yesterday, 2-3 chickens were attacked, carved out and feathers/ blood everywhere. Today, two chickens were found, barely alive, and had to be put down by me (I'm extremely stressed from doing so, but I couldn't bear to let mom do it). I didn't see the bodies of the first attack, but I was told they were carved out, from the belly out, like scooped or just had their soft parts pulled out from their tougher cavity. Today, I saw that their necks were terribly mangled and stripped (I...could see the neck muscles and jugulars), and their backs were decimated. Feathers over most of their backs were gone, and their backs were torn into, and I have no idea how long the poor things suffered.
These attacks normally happen between night and morning, as that's pretty much the only time mom can't go to them as she needs to sleep and go to work in town. Two days, almost 5 entire chickens gone. Handfuls of chickens were left alive, but were covered in muck and shaking in fear having escaped whatever did this. Mom uses chicken wire to cover the walls of the cage-pens, and an orange plastic netting over the top to keep out predatory birds.
I noticed that, in both times, there was a big enough hole in the roof netting for something to get in, but I don't know what. The cages are too tall for some dog to leap onto, and impossible to jump out of from inside. We live in the Sonoran Desert, in a large neighborhood. We can't afford one of those constant security cameras, especially now that it's the monsoon and it'd get destroyed in the nightly rains.
These chickens are of medium size, and the ones being slaughtered are hens. The hens are very sweet girls, but I question if a neighborhood cat could do this to such chickens. A hawk is also in question, since both could get through the hole in the roofs. Please, someone give me ideas on what to do and what it could be. My mom and her chickens are suffering enough!
These attacks normally happen between night and morning, as that's pretty much the only time mom can't go to them as she needs to sleep and go to work in town. Two days, almost 5 entire chickens gone. Handfuls of chickens were left alive, but were covered in muck and shaking in fear having escaped whatever did this. Mom uses chicken wire to cover the walls of the cage-pens, and an orange plastic netting over the top to keep out predatory birds.
I noticed that, in both times, there was a big enough hole in the roof netting for something to get in, but I don't know what. The cages are too tall for some dog to leap onto, and impossible to jump out of from inside. We live in the Sonoran Desert, in a large neighborhood. We can't afford one of those constant security cameras, especially now that it's the monsoon and it'd get destroyed in the nightly rains.
These chickens are of medium size, and the ones being slaughtered are hens. The hens are very sweet girls, but I question if a neighborhood cat could do this to such chickens. A hawk is also in question, since both could get through the hole in the roofs. Please, someone give me ideas on what to do and what it could be. My mom and her chickens are suffering enough!
