Help! My husband and I went camping over the weekend and left our three chicks at home in the coop with our two silkies. We figured they would be fine since my uncle was coming to check on them and our neighbor was also checking on them every few hours during the day. My uncle said that everyone was accounted for at noon on Saturday but when we got home around noon on Sunday 2 chicks were gone with no trace and one was dead in the coop yard. Both Silkies were as fine as can be but they can't tell me what happened. Last night my husband was moving out the brooder box and found holes underneath it and out in the yard. He says he pumps water in the holes but they never over flow so no telling how deep they are but that we probably have a gopher or a snake and it ate our chicks and left the silkies alone since with all thier fluff they look bigger than they are. But I don't know what to do! We are going to put in a floor soon but how do we rid ourselves of snakes and or gophers. And since whatever it is killed my babies that I hatched from eggs, I am not really interested in being humane. I want it gone dead or alive! Do gophers eat chicks? Do snakes? Could it be something else?
