Our First Predator Strike

Willowspirit

Crowing
Mar 14, 2019
1,867
5,463
462
Near Portland Oregon at 2Dogs Ranch North
So for some reason every time my husband does something with for or about the quail at least one gets loose. So yesterday he comes in and tells predictably that he was trying to get the quail out of their current coop/run into their new run and was going to transfer them via a dog crate.

And the only two that went into the crate got loose. And for novelty’s sake he saw a small hawk. And Delores (pullet) was alarm calling like crazy. And a crow was screeching.

It turns out that one quail was hiding between an unused coop and the quail coop. We managed to snag her. But as I looked for the other bird I was confronted with a ring of feathers. Quail feathers. I saw more feathers as I looked around.

My hubby looked for a carcass. Nothing, but I know that’s not meaningful.

We did get a trap so we set that up into the dog crate with food and water and hoped for the best. But all those feathers! It had to be gone.

This morning I went out to pop the coop door and put for out food for the chickens. I bent down to pull the door handle and realized a bird was running around in the run outside the second coop. The run hadn’t been closed so the missing bird got into but when he tried to cross through over where the quail coop was he was blocked.

Sure he was missing some feathers on his right side, mostly down feathers, but a few wing feathers too. But there he was still able to fly a bit when we went to catch him. No injuries and he went back with his friends.

We have truly got to be the luckiest newbie poultry owners ever! So far so good. I am lucky too because I did not like where hubby put the new quail cages and now he feels guilty enough to move them. But not the quail themselves! He’s promised to get help for that!
 
I'm glad that all the birds are okay, Best of luck going forward. I'm a newbie myself, just three or four months in and had a very small flock of three. Since I live in urban areas. recently about a week or so ago two of them were killed. I suspect a raccoon since one just had the head missing and the other was left uneaten at all. They were all 20 weeks old, had not started laying yet. The Breed I had and have are EE's, and I'm going to get two more members soon since the one left seems lonely. Best of luck to you.
 
I'm glad that all the birds are okay, Best of luck going forward. I'm a newbie myself, just three or four months in and had a very small flock of three. Since I live in urban areas. recently about a week or so ago two of them were killed. I suspect a raccoon since one just had the head missing and the other was left uneaten at all. They were all 20 weeks old, had not started laying yet. The Breed I had and have are EE's, and I'm going to get two more members soon since the one left seems lonely. Best of luck to you.

Thank you and to you. I’m terrified a raccoon will get my birds so my heart goes out to you. But good on you for keeping on!
 

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