Oh My GOD! Please Help!

[Wolfheart101]

It's horrible. We had six chickens, down to two in 3 days. Feathers strewn all over the coop. Not a trace left of the disappearing chickens, nothing but feathers. The last two have feathers yanked out, some skin along with it. They are about three months old, not full grown. Please, what could have done this? The neighbors got a new puppy, I'll ask if it got out recently...

 

[Wolfheart101]

Partly False-Alarm. We have 5 chickens. They were hiding under their coop. But they all had some damage done to them, and I didn't see they neighbors dog in their yard. But still, all the feathers...

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

How secure is the coop? Generally a dog will just kill a chicken for the fun of it. They usually will not eat them. Is there any part of the carcuss left? A hawk will usually tear up a chicken as will a fox. Typical hawk attack is they go for the neck first while holding down the body. Once they kill it then they will tear the feathers apart to get to the meat most of the time leaving the bones unless they are able to carry it away.. A fox will either kill and carry away or they may tear out a bunch of feathers to get at the meat until they are spooked and run away.
Do you have a fence around the coop? Was this a night attack or daytime?

 

[AmyBella]

I am so sorry that you lost a chicken but glad that the other two are still alive. I wish them a speedy recovery!

Maybe if you can tell us more about their coop and run, type of fencing, etc. that would help narrow down what kind of predator. Hopefully you can prevent it from happening again!

 

[Whirlwind]

Yikes!!! Glad you found them hidding. Yep I would go visit the neighbors just to let them know.

Could of been anything. I had coons get in my coop and left a terrible mess of feathers. Also a hawk can leave a big pile of feathers.

Sure hope you figure this out soon before you loose more birds.

 

[Wolfheart101]

The coop is in the kennel, and there's a wooden border around part of the bottom part of the fence, the rest is chain link with one of the sides made by the house. There are some small gaps where the fence meets the house, but one has a barrier about three feet high made of bricks, and the gap its self is only about 3 or 4 inches wide. Same on the other side, except for bricks we have the AC unit with a smaller fence surrounding that. There is not top to the kennel.
I'm sorry, but I don't know when the attacks happened.

 

[noitulover]

i'm so sorry this happened, but i'm glad you found most of them!

i would definitely reconfigure the run... use 1/4" spaced hardware cloth to make the run and bury it at least 6-12" into the ground so they can't dig under it either.

hope youre chickens recover well!

 

[Whirlwind]

It sounds like you need to make adjustmets to your kennel. If you can cover any gaps. Predators can get in the smallest holes.

Also I would cover the top if you can. I have had a coon squeeze in where you would not think a rat could get in. What ever it was it will be back for more chicken dinner.

Could of very easily been a hawk I have them hit my wire on the top of my run trying to get in. Good Luck.

 

[Wolfheart101]

Thanks, all of you for the advice and well-wishes.
Also, a hawk hitting the top of the kennel is hilarious!

 

[speckledhen]

Perhaps a more descriptive and less dramatic thread title would be better in the future. This sounded like you had a wounded bird and needed emergency medical help. What you really want is to know what did this to the birds, right? Perhaps a title along the lines of "Chickens Disappearing; Nothing Left but Feathers" or "What Took My Chickens?" would have been better. Hope you find the rest of the birds. Sounds like you need to shore up the coop/pen somewhat. Any gap is an opening for a predator, even 1" will allow rats and weasels inside.