No Sign Of Anything!

[theswede]

I am at a total loss of words! I cannot figure out what got my BO and her brood, or our Peking drake! I have fought hawks, snakes, coons, possums, and dogs, but I cannot figure this one out. Any ideas????? No feathers, no blood, no scuffle, nothing!! There is usually some kind of sign, but something is being really slick this time...

 

[houndit]

Fox. We had a fox take about 30 laying hens and we did not even know it. The only reason we found out was our guineas.

 

[theswede]

Now there's a thought. I've never had problems with them yet. I did have problems with coyoties, but never fox. Do they leave any sign at all??

 

[TexasVet]

Every time my grown birds went missing and there were no feathers in the coop, I caught a big coon. There was so little disturbance once that I thought my neighbor's kid was sneaking over and stealing chickens at night. But a well-baited trap proved me wrong.

Possums like to eat where they kill, and generally go for the soft insides, so you'd find remains. Bobcats leave a trail of feathers, because they like to play with their food. Hawks and owls can snatch birds without leaving a trace, but I've never had them take more than one at a time. So my money is on the coon.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com

 

[houndit]

I do not want to argue or contradict. I can only speak from my own experience. Coons have always left evidence when they take poultry. The fox left some feathers but I thought it was from the geese being mean to our layers. There was only one pile that made me suspicious but I did not think that I was losing birds. They are awfully hard to get rid of too. When we first heard the guineas making a lot of racket we went out there and saw a fox making off with fresh chicken. We got the dead chicken back and left. A few minutes later the fox came back. We stayed out there till the hens went in. We were very careful the next few days. We saw no more signs. We thought it was over. Then I saw a fox eating the remains of chicken. I know he did not get it that morning because I had just let them out. That means he got it the other day. We did not think we had lost more, but apparently we had. We left them in for a couple weeks on our vacation because we just could not risk them all getting killed. They watched closely because the people taking care of them let one chicken out one day and could not get it back. I was gone by that afternoon.

 

[theswede]

WOW! I've dealt with coons and the likes, but I've always known when they were there. Then again, they are like their nickname goes, bandits!!! Strange though how it carried off our 17 pound Peking Drake

and he was only about 6 months old. Guess it's time to go and sit in the barn and do the dirty for a couple of nights.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

We had a fox make off with four hens without a trace. The ONLY reason we found out it was a fox before they made off with the last 2 was we spotted the fox itself and shot it.

Everytime I hear of birds dissapearing without a trace, I think FOX.

-Kim

 

[theswede]

Sounds more like it's gonna be the fox I'm hunting! Could a fox pick up a duck that big without leaving any trace? I can understand my hen and chicks, but a 17 pound duck! The fox can't weigh much more than that.

 

[nancysmith2]

No help but a question. How did you fight the hawks? And, were you successful?

 

[theswede]

Quote:
I actually had a little help from my crow buddies. Most of the hawks I have dealt with were red tails, I had a sparrow hawk once, but it was after my chicks. Most of the time I use my 22 and shoot straight up at them where they are soaring. After about a week of that they move their hunting grounds further away from my chicken house. Well now I have a small flock of crows that moved in about 3 years ago, and they do the work for me. Crows will peck a hawk to pieces if they could. And they will work as a team to make the hawk leave. And all I have to do is let them eat some of my duck food and the over ripe tomatoes that I throw out of the garden each year.