No Prey Instincts?

[Redcatcher]

I didn't see it happen myself, but today I heard the account of what happened from several people who witnessed it from next door. A young fox came through yesterday and grabbed my 6 month old Madagascar pullet. They told me she walked right up to the fox, never struggled or made a sound when it grabbed her and tried to run off with her. They chased the fox away which dropped the pullet before running into the woods. I only found one minor wound on the pullet's leg and some missing feathers. She didn't act traumatized at all. She's very intelligent in all other respects but behaves like a dodo bird. I've never seen anything like it.

 

[bobbi-j]

Do you have a dog that she's used to? If so, maybe she just thought the fox was another friendly dog.

 

[whoacowboy]

That sounds like my EE. She'd shake hands with a butcher if she could. Nothing scares that girl. She is the first to stick her nose into EVERYTHING! I'm so glad your girl is okay!

 

[centrarchid]

Lack of experience with predator. Same happens with fishes or my birds. To make my guys more predator wise, a flock member needs to give alarm call and flight response. Proper response to predator turns on next time predator encountered. There is a learning curve as to what proper response is. Simply running on ground is not right for fox and flying into tree is not right for hawk.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Happened with my geese and the coyote. Coyote jumped the fence, young goose walked up to coyote, coyote tried to take young goose back across the fence (was not successful, as dogs and I got to the goose).


My geese not will not go in that section of the property any longer by their choice and are a bit more wary of "strange" dogs.

 

[Redcatcher]

Quote:
No, but there are two cats from next door that hang around. One is almost pure white and the other is a tabby. Still, being grabbed should have triggered a struggle no matter how used to small animals they are.

 

[Eggcessive]

I watched 3 of my 18 week old chicks last week as a redtail hawk swooped by them twice as I was coming toward them, and they stood around calm like nothing was happening. The head rooster and other chicks had hightailed it to the coop already, and I had to drive them into the coop to safety, so I could lock them up. I had noticed that they had been staring at something just before and I came to inspect--I guess the hawk had been on the ground.