Need help identifying............CREEPY!!

[arherp]

It looks to' me like a kid or a person did that..

 

[2ndtimearound]

I know they're creepy looking,

but IMHO I'd go with wing marks, since they look so much like so many I've seen before.

 

[horsejody]

Chupacabra

 

[cafarmgirl]

But if the run is completely covered with the largest gap anywhere being only 2x4 inches, and this occured overnight while the chickens were all in the coop, then I don't see how it can be wing tip marks. Otherwise I would agree 100%.

Therefore I am of no help with no explanation!

 

[millebantam]

Easy explanation. The marks were already there when the chickens were put up for the night but were overlooked until they were noticed the following morning.

 

[tenderkat]

Okay, their may be a very slight chance that I overlooked the marks. But, seriously, one area of the marks was very defined and distinct, and they were over 1 inch deep. Wouldn't wingtips be a bit more.........sloppy? I'm not trying to be difficult, I just really want to know if a potential predator got into my run. A few weeks ago, I did see some type of animal slinking away from the run after dark. It was pretty low to the ground, with barely a tail, so it wasn't a raccoon. During the night, my dogs did start barking pretty aggressively. Shortly after I got them calmed down, their was a loud bang. While investigating that morning after finding the tracks, I discovered that the solid wood door I have leaning against the back of the coop had been knocked down. This is just way too strange!!!

 

[millebantam]

OK, here goes nothing, lol. The snow in the pic appears to be "old" snow, and probably was melted/frozen/remelted at some point and probably had some slight crusting at the surface. When the chicken popped it's wings, for whatever reason, only the very stiffest parts (feather shafts) of the primary feathers were rigid enough to break the surface and leave an impression. The soft part of the feathers is not stiff enough to make any marks in the surface. Had that been fresh, powdery snow, the marks would have a look more like you swept your fingers across it, because the fluffy snow would have allowed the entire part of the feather to move the light, soft snow.

If your enclosure is as tight as you say it is, it is impossible for any animal large enough to make "claw marks" that size without leaving very visible damage to the enclosure. Throw in the fact that there is absolutley no evidence of any other tracks or disturbed snow nearby those marks, and you can only conclude that the marks were done by something that was inside the pen already....................a chicken.

 

[Ariel301]

Yes, you do have badgers in Colorado. I've lived all over the state, and they're around. You just don't see them much. But I don't think that's what did it.

I'm going to have to go with everyone else and say wing marks. You'd be surprised at the small holes a wild animal can squeeze through. We have chain link fence for all our animal pens and we have full grown cottontail rabbits that squeeze in! I've watched them do it, and still don't know how it is possible. It could be that you had a small crow, magpie, or Steller's Jay visit during the night.

 

[Overeasyplz]

Quote:
You know they can suck a goat dry in SECONDS!! they like chicken too

In all seriousess, maybe a wolverine? However if it were a wolverine I bet there'd be a lot more mayhem than just claw marks..

 

[tenderkat]

Okay, if I have a Wolverine scoping out my coop, I'm buying a shotgun!! I'd just as soon face off with a bear. Chupa-whateveryoucallit, flying monkeys, cats with the wingspan of a Teradactyl.........................

I'm gonna have to go with the whole wingtip theory.

Otherwise I'm gonna lose my mind!!!!!!!!

~Katherine~