Need help!

[Starkey5]

Hey I'm new here and figured everyone could help me out! I had 5, 5 week old chicks that I was putting in a small run that we had made under the hens coop during the day. Well this evening we went to go get them and bring them in for the night and 2 of them are gone...just pulled through the fence...just a few feathers left behind and very little blood! One of them that is left has a rip in its side and im not sure what to do with it! Does anyone have any ideas what could have done this? Earlier in the day one of my hens was giving a warning call but i went down there and saw nothing! The mini run under the coop is completly closed off!

 

[Alaskan]

Unfortunately there are several different pests that could have grabbed them through the wire and eaten them piece by piece...

Racoon
Possums
Large raptors

One of the reasons that using hardware cloth is so very nice.

Anyway... Don't put the chicks back there until it is fortified...

As to the injured chick... I have had great success even with terrible injuries.

Rinse out the wound with water or a bottle of saline.

If it is deep but not too wide, do not close the wound.

If it is shallow and wide, or a big flap of skin, rinse it off well and close it back up. Once dry, you can use superglue, or pure cotton thread soaked in strong alcohol.

Keep the injured one isolated in a comfortable spot, like a small dog crate, with food and water right in front of her. A dimly lit spot is good. Keep ALL flies away from her!!!

After a couple of days when she is looking more perky, you could put her back with the rest, but coat the wound with Blue Kote or something similar, and watch closely for bullying.

Good luck!

 

[Starkey5]

I just can't understand how something could pull 2 birds the size of a grown man's fist through a 1 inch hole and leave nothing behind but like 5 feathers and less blood than you would bleed with a papercut

 

[Alaskan]

Predators are talented.

 

[path.otto]

I had that happen with one of three ducks I rescued from the city's waste treatment plant. I know it was a raccoon because I caught him the next night nosing around the other two. I, too, was amazed at the lack of blood, flesh and feathers! I brought them onto the screened porch in a large dog crate until I could release them a few weeks later.