Hi All,
I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what killed my (husband's favorite) hen. First of all, I have to say it was totally completely my fault, because of a crazy busy afternoon and evening of kids sports, I rushed home, had to feed, bathe, and get 5 kids to bed, and in the mayhem, I forgot to lock up the coop. The beagles next door woke me up at 5am, going ballistic as only beagles can do...and immediately my thought was "predator!" They obviously were smelling something, and they were my alarm.
Anyway, the predator went right into the coop through the open "trap door" and appears to have killed one hen there in the hen house. I found her feathers all over the coop, and a few specks of blood in the shavings. I also found lots of feathers from another hen, and when I checked her, I found that although she had no wounds, she was missing a swath of feathers all along her keel, breast to belly.
I found some feathers also in the run, and a couple of feathers about 25 feet away under a pine tree. Other than that, there were no "parts" left behind.
I think, but I'm not totally sure, that something had knocked over the grain feeder that stays in the run. My pony likes to sneak in there and empty it out, but she had not been out, so I think someone else was snooping around for food. I have not been missing eggs.
I think I might be seeing rat poop in my storage room of the coop, where I keep the grain in a closed trash can. I've never seen that before. (I will have to google "rat poop" to see what it looks like)
I am in CT, so we have every type of predator here.
Any thoughts? I am guessing it was a fox, but I wish I knew for sure. Again, I have a very secure coop IF I actually close the doors! Duh!
I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what killed my (husband's favorite) hen. First of all, I have to say it was totally completely my fault, because of a crazy busy afternoon and evening of kids sports, I rushed home, had to feed, bathe, and get 5 kids to bed, and in the mayhem, I forgot to lock up the coop. The beagles next door woke me up at 5am, going ballistic as only beagles can do...and immediately my thought was "predator!" They obviously were smelling something, and they were my alarm.
Anyway, the predator went right into the coop through the open "trap door" and appears to have killed one hen there in the hen house. I found her feathers all over the coop, and a few specks of blood in the shavings. I also found lots of feathers from another hen, and when I checked her, I found that although she had no wounds, she was missing a swath of feathers all along her keel, breast to belly.
I found some feathers also in the run, and a couple of feathers about 25 feet away under a pine tree. Other than that, there were no "parts" left behind.
I think, but I'm not totally sure, that something had knocked over the grain feeder that stays in the run. My pony likes to sneak in there and empty it out, but she had not been out, so I think someone else was snooping around for food. I have not been missing eggs.
I think I might be seeing rat poop in my storage room of the coop, where I keep the grain in a closed trash can. I've never seen that before. (I will have to google "rat poop" to see what it looks like)
I am in CT, so we have every type of predator here.
Any thoughts? I am guessing it was a fox, but I wish I knew for sure. Again, I have a very secure coop IF I actually close the doors! Duh!
