Something vicious is attacking my chickens, and where opossum seems the most likely, it's also somewhat of a stretch.
We've had predator problems for the past two years, and had a flock of 8 get wiped out--always during the night, where they'd simply disappear from the pen, or found without their head. Now, we've had a flock of 15 get wiped out in a few months time, and just now, 4 have died within 24 hours.
Our chickens stay in a pen at night, a dog pen--it's huge, has two coops in it, a water feeder, and a metal feeder that hangs, and about three roosts. The bottom, all around, has about foot-high chicken wire to keep opossums from reaching their heads in; as well as to discourage foxes from digging under. The top is covered with a tarp, upheld by a cemented pole to keep weather out.
Recently, as I live in North Carolina, we were hit by a huge ice storm that ended with the tarp being shredded in multiple places. I was unable to replace it, waiting for my parents to return from a week long trip, as the pen is too high for me to remove and replace the tarp. The slashes in the tarp were small enough for me to not worry about a bird flying out, or rather, anything getting in.
Yesterday, my parents arrived very early in the morning to discover a chicken in the yard. Upon investigation, 3 birds had been slaughtered, left without their heads in the pen. One other bird was cowering in one of the coops.
We assumed that, despite my lack of worry, an opossum had indeed climbed through the top of the tarp. Nothing else seemed likely, it was much too small for a hawk or other bird of prey, and foxes or coyotes don't seem agile enough to climb in and back out. We have checked around, and there wasn't a single way anything could have climbed under. We assumed the escaped bird flew from the top, out of the tarp, somehow.
We moved the birds into a well-sized rabbit hutch for the night, setting out two traps to catch predators and kill them.
This morning, one of the birds was found under the hutch, beheaded and more. I couldn't bring myself to look at the gore, too distraught, but according to my mother, it appears the bird was literally forced through the bottom of the hutch, which has half-inch holes along the sides and bottom. The wire was not torn. The bird was apparently completely mutilated. The other bird survived by standing in the water bowl, which had partly frozen over during the night.
We've moved the survivor bird into a bathroom, for now, in the case her health has dropped from standing in freezing water for God knows how long.
We've seen opossums, red and grey foxes, coyotes, bobcats, a single mountain lion, neighbors dogs and cats in the area. Red-tailed hawks are frequently sighted, but have never been an issue with night kills.
None of the tears are even a food long or wide in the tarp. We are lost for what's happening, and are going to set more traps, and attempt to develop an animal proof setting to protect our last bird, and our upcoming chick batch. Please, help me figure this out.
We've had predator problems for the past two years, and had a flock of 8 get wiped out--always during the night, where they'd simply disappear from the pen, or found without their head. Now, we've had a flock of 15 get wiped out in a few months time, and just now, 4 have died within 24 hours.
Our chickens stay in a pen at night, a dog pen--it's huge, has two coops in it, a water feeder, and a metal feeder that hangs, and about three roosts. The bottom, all around, has about foot-high chicken wire to keep opossums from reaching their heads in; as well as to discourage foxes from digging under. The top is covered with a tarp, upheld by a cemented pole to keep weather out.
Recently, as I live in North Carolina, we were hit by a huge ice storm that ended with the tarp being shredded in multiple places. I was unable to replace it, waiting for my parents to return from a week long trip, as the pen is too high for me to remove and replace the tarp. The slashes in the tarp were small enough for me to not worry about a bird flying out, or rather, anything getting in.
Yesterday, my parents arrived very early in the morning to discover a chicken in the yard. Upon investigation, 3 birds had been slaughtered, left without their heads in the pen. One other bird was cowering in one of the coops.
We assumed that, despite my lack of worry, an opossum had indeed climbed through the top of the tarp. Nothing else seemed likely, it was much too small for a hawk or other bird of prey, and foxes or coyotes don't seem agile enough to climb in and back out. We have checked around, and there wasn't a single way anything could have climbed under. We assumed the escaped bird flew from the top, out of the tarp, somehow.
We moved the birds into a well-sized rabbit hutch for the night, setting out two traps to catch predators and kill them.
This morning, one of the birds was found under the hutch, beheaded and more. I couldn't bring myself to look at the gore, too distraught, but according to my mother, it appears the bird was literally forced through the bottom of the hutch, which has half-inch holes along the sides and bottom. The wire was not torn. The bird was apparently completely mutilated. The other bird survived by standing in the water bowl, which had partly frozen over during the night.
We've moved the survivor bird into a bathroom, for now, in the case her health has dropped from standing in freezing water for God knows how long.
We've seen opossums, red and grey foxes, coyotes, bobcats, a single mountain lion, neighbors dogs and cats in the area. Red-tailed hawks are frequently sighted, but have never been an issue with night kills.
None of the tears are even a food long or wide in the tarp. We are lost for what's happening, and are going to set more traps, and attempt to develop an animal proof setting to protect our last bird, and our upcoming chick batch. Please, help me figure this out.
good luck, keep us updated!
