Please help!! 11 dead chickens

[cahokiachick]

I feel so sorry for you. kind of went through the same thing.

Bought 6 chicks in March, about a week old. Kept them in the garage under heat lamps until they feathered out then put them in the fenced backyard in which I put chicken wire over the vinyl fencing.

We lost 4 Chickens out of a flock of 6 in June (barred rock and silver laced wyandottes) to what we think were racoons. Heads were taken off and gutted. Only found 3 bodies. Replaced them with a mixed flock we bought from a local future farmer of america that had an ad on craigslist. Got a silkie (way cute) a Brahma (just found that out today) and 2 others that i don't know what they are. Also just picked up a group of 5 rhode island reds someone wanted to get rid of.

Built a community of 3 coops connected to what we call the common area that we can walk into with a roof so we can feed and water the chickens. We still have problems with the racoons getting into the backyard, but make sure the chickens are in the coops by dark..

Was just finishing up dinner tonight and went to the bathroom to wash my hands and looked out the window and saw a hawk eating the silkie, ran out of the house yelling and screaming but was to late. We lost our cute little silkie.

Didn't think hawks could get into the the backyard since we have 4 very large shade trees in the yard but i was mistaken. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks.

 

[Triple Willow]

I'm still thinking dog, possibly racoon. To me dogs are the worst! Sorry that happened. Hope your granddaughter is doing ok.

 

[strick62]

My granddaughter is doing much better today. She went with us to pick up the Sussex. I also promised her a silkie. Our outside yard for the girls is welded wire. They have never been out at night. My husband shuts the coop up every night. We have chicken wire covering the yard in hopes of deterring hawks. We have alot of them.

 

[strick62]

Sorry about your silkie

 

[veramoomoo]

i think it might be a racoon, a fox, a possum???????? i would maybe set up cameras or traps to catch the chicken killer!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and get back to me as soon as posible!!!!!!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Jefferson, Georgia is close to I85 and it is prime country for the state engineered reemergence of predatory black bears. Do be advised that any black bear in the state of Georgia enjoys more rights than you or all the humans and chickens combined enjoy. The damage to your pen could be done by a black bear in mere seconds. Look at a high tinsel smooth wire electric fence with shock values or joules out the yang-yang. It requires a lot of juice to penetrate that tough hair on a bear and reach its skin. You want to teach him to leave your house alone because as long as a black bear is in your area no one in your family is safe, least of all your 7 year old granddaughter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America#See_also

Since 1990 there has been at least 30 fatal black bear attacks in the US and Canada. The closet one to you was in the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee were a 6 year old girl was attacked in her tent, pulled out, killed and eaten. Thirteen of the victims were male and 17 were female. The ages ranged from a 5 month old girl who was taken from her stroller in New York State to a 93 year old New Mexico woman who was killed and eaten by a black bear while she was inside her home. The bear broke out a window to gain entrance. Some how I doubt that a black bear saw a 5 months old baby, a 6 year old girl, or a 93 year old woman as a threat to the bears' life or to its cubs, the bears only saw breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Good luck.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Was just finishing up dinner tonight and went to the bathroom to wash my hands and looked out the window and saw a hawk eating [my] silkie, ran out of the house yelling and screaming but was to late. We lost our cute little silkie.

Didn't think hawks could get into the the backyard since we have 4 very large shade trees in the yard but i was mistaken. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Like Brother Rabbet and his briar patch, that hawk was likely born in the top of a large shade tree so getting around in and amongst trees is second nature for any hawk. Don't listen to all the PC, BC that you are fed, its all Bull C... and not a word of it is correct. That is suggestion number one.

Suggestion number two is learn how to discretely discourage chicken hawks from preying on your flock by making it dangerous for the chicken hawk to lollygag in the top of those 4 large shade trees while picking out another one of your chickens to dine on.

Suggestion number 3 is to hatch and raise chickens like the Native Americans planted corn. The Cherokee supposedly planted 4 grains of corn in each hill, "One for the cut worm, one for the crow, one for the black bird, and one to grow." Only in your case you will need to hatch, raise or buy at least 12 of every chicken that you currently own, at least one for each of the dozen or more predators that like chicken for supper. Remember, if the hawks, coons, foxes, coyotes, and bobcats etc have company over even for dinner even that will prove an insufficient quantity of drumsticks and white meat to go around.
Suggestion Number 3 is not an attractive option for me but you may want to consider it.

 

[aart]

WOW...that stinks! Thanks for posting the pics of the torn wire. That's a pretty big hole, indicating a fairly large animal. I'd say dog or large coon, coons are freakishly strong.
I guess if they can get a few teeth in they could start to pop the welds especially near the edges of the cloth, or if the cloth has a bend or fold in it where they can gain purchase.

Any chance of putting up a game cam? Or a very large live trap. It would be really interesting to know what did this....and it will be back.
I guess I should re-read the whole thread to see if you had seen any tracks.

 

[BigECarter]

Do you remember what gauge hardware cloth you used? I think there were three gauges when I was looking. 16, 19, and 23. Hardware cloth seems to be the gold standard on BYC, but the gauge is rarely mentioned. If the higher gauges are weak enough for an animal to tear through, that should be better conveyed to newbies so that people don't have the heartbreak that you did.

 

[BarredRocks3]

I'd say it would be a weasel, those things find your hens abnd kill as many as possible. They go for the brain and throat and leave behing "vampire" bite marks. He will return at night for his feast and kill more. My advise, leave out a rat trap will slice deli meat.