Pile of feathers but no body

[CluckNDoodle]

We're surrounded by predators here and I made it until this year without a single episode but this year I've had snakes, owls, and hawks that have successfully attacked. It's a risk you take when free ranging your chickens but I also feel like free ranging is healthier for them. We're working on plans for a large fenced area with a netted top since predators seem to be worse from the sky during the day here and we already have a very secure set up for nights. Having access to bushes and such to hide under helps too. You'll find what works best for you and your chickens. Do you have a hardware cloth skirt around the base of your enclosed area? I only ask in case whatever critter is going after your chickens is a digger you may be setting up an all you can eat buffet.

 

[cmom]

Check this out from Walmart. A BYC member has posted some pictures from this camera and they are decent pictures and the price is great.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Tasco-8MP-Tan-Game-Camera-Low-Glow/55614224
I have several game cameras on my property. Most nights I see a predator on at least one of the cameras and most often it is a coyote and sometimes a fox or other predator. I had a fox kill my very special bird a few months ago. She was out during the middle of the day and I got occupied. I got the fox. We have a lot of coyotes too. Nothing preys on coyotes but they will prey on other predators including bobcats and fox if they can catch them. I used canned dog food and some old chicken we had processed. I just dump it in the trap. I don't put it in anything because too many times a predator can get a container out with the bait without tripping the trap. For a few days I put the bait in the traps and let the fox take the bait then I set the traps and caught it.

 

[cmom]

I don't free range anymore but I do have large covered pens. The pens are covered with heavy duty netting, I have concrete under the gates and electric wire around the coops and pens all due to losses in the past from predators. I have lost birds to coyotes, fox, bobcat, possums, owls and hawks. I have seen coons on my cameras but they haven't bothered the birds so far. I had a skunk try to dig under a gate to a chick/grow-out pen. I went out and tried to chase the skunk away but it turned towards me and stomped it feet so I went in and got my gun and when I came out it did it again so it was bye bye skunk.

 

[cmom]

This is a chick/grow-out coop. There is more pen on the other side of the coop. Here most of the predators come out at night. A coyote and a fox.

 

[cmom]

Lock your bird in for a while, because your predator will be back!
Trail cameras are wonderful!
Live traps baited with canned sardines or cat food do well, but only trap if you will then shoot the trapped varmit!!! Releasing raccoon, opossums, foxes, at least, is not a good idea and is illegal many places. Here in Michigan, releasing on the same property, or on private land within the same county, with landowner permission, are the only options.
Raptors of any sort are federally protected, so if it's a hawk, keeping your birds in a safe place for two or three weeks will discourage that bird.
Electric fencing or electric poultry netting work very well to keep land predators at bay!
Mary

I agree. The same applies here in Florida.

 

[IndyGail]

I have lost two cats to raccoons. At night raccoons will crawl up the tree next to our two story deck. The take the cat to the creek to eat. The dog will go to the creek and bring back what is left days later. Usually the bones are picked perfectly clean and still intact. Like a skeleton in a museum.
I guess what I am saying is think about cutting the tree near the fence or move the fence.

 

[cmom]

Here are some piles of feathers. I never found the bodies but did catch the fox I had been seeing there. One was a White Leghorn and the other was a Rhode Island White.

 

[so lucky]

To the OP: Have you verified that there are chickens missing? I ask because I have seen my birds sit and preen and pick at themselves, then get up and shake and walk off, leaving a pile of feathers similar to yours in the pic. Those molts can look brutal, lol.