Please tell me what happened**Update 6/17**

[smiley]

Quote:
Both latches holding the bottom and top together were intact and secure.

 

[chickenvirgin]

Hello, so sorry for your loss,but maybe the culpret was a weasel....4 weeks ago i put my babies ( 13 4 week old chicks and 6 4 week old poulets)in the coop for the first night and it looked totally preditator proof. In the morning 11 chicks and 4 turkeys were missing. It turned out

a weasel had been busy all night taking them one at a time through a hole in the corner of the door that you could barely see through. They can squeeze through a very small space and if the chicks are young enough they will take the whole bird and leave no evidence.

 

[DulcyDoll]

I own, as pets, 6 boys and 2 girls. They are very sweet critters...
My boys::

 

[amyc]

I own, as pets, 6 boys and 2 girls. They are very sweet critters...
My boys::

Aargh - my 7 year old just saw these pics and said he wanted some. Like I don't have enough animals already!!​

 

[IggiMom]

I am SO sorry. If you ever figure it out please let us know.

Catherine

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

Looking up predators in one of the chicken books...it says if there is no trace left behind it was a human.

Creepy!!
I'd prefer the rat in my house to some weirdy.

Sorry OT again--
LOVE rats! I have 2 sister dumbo rats, Sissy and Jazzy.
Dulcy LOVE your set up!!

 

[19hhbelgian]

Sorry about your chicks! I know rats and weasels can fit through amazingly small spaces. If they had time to get all 5, and you know for sure no prson was in your home, I'd bet on that

I've never had trouble with that type of animal. We had ducks & geese at our old house, and they'd gang up on anything they knew they could chase away

Just keep your new babies in a different room when they come, but until then, I would be setting multiple traps & see what you can catch. I'm also sorry to read about your dog, I know how hard it is to lose a furry family member

Keep us posted on what you find!

On another note, DulcyDoll, I LOVE that little rattie with the little mask on his face - too cute!

 

[Chickenmaven]

Little tikes are more able than we think!!!!
When my son was exactly 24 months old, he climbed two flights of stairs, pushed a trashcan next to a dresser, climbed on the dresser, removed the screen to an Anderson window (you know, the ones that require a screwdriver or your own torn finger nails), he cranked open the window (oh, what muscles....)
All this, in 5 minutes while I was nursing his week old sister. Had I not nagged DH to tend to his child, who knows?????

Search the house. I am afraid you will find peeps in some odd place.

 

[Alyssandra]

We had 2 rats years ago in a similar style cage to yours...Well one of them got the name houdini...he found a way to open the door get out run around the house and then put himself back in the cage without leaving a trace (well other then the fact we found him out a few times and then watched him do it).....So I am voteing rat It's amazing what they can figure out....

 

[Thomas423]

First comment.....rats make excellent pets. They are very clean, smart and if they get out, they always go back to their home (cage).

Second comment.... you can have rats living in your home and not know it. Years back my son had a pet rat. One day she had babies. We only had one pet rat and had her a couple of years. It took me a while to find where the wild rat was hiding out, but I found him and fed him poison. Also found the very small access to the house and filled in the hole.

Third comment.....rats exist everywhere....cities, towns and in the country. We have rat poison boxes set up around our property due to goat food and now chicken food. I may not be able to stop them from visiting but I sure am not going to feed them anything other than poison.

Good luck finding your predator. Rats are easier to get rid of because there are so many poisons and traps. If it's a weasel, that might be a bit trickier. Maybe someone can offer suggestions about how to trap a weasel in the house.

Please update us when you have it figured out.