Predator took 8 of my 4 month old chickens

[Dee Heath]

Something took 8 of my 4 month old chickens. It left 2 unharmed. We had to put down one. It was too injured. We are very sad! It looks like bobcat prints outside of the pen. We had just moved them from our baby pen to the larger pen a week ago. They were so happy! What can we do? We are heart broken!

 

[rachelsflock]

Hi,
Welcome to BYC! I'm sorry for your loss. It's an awful, unsettling feeling you get when something comes in and eats some of your animals, and that's compounded on losing animals that you may have even considered pets.

The first thing I would do is predator proof. If the baby pen was more secure, they should go back in there until you are done making the big pen safer-robust fencing and not chicken wire, maybe a top might also be in your future. Then I'd make sure your birds are always locked up before dark especially for the next few days-very securely. Have you been able to keep adult chickens in the big pen without losses? If you're in an area that allows it, you may want to look into whether or not you're allowed to trap or shoot anything else that comes by for a fat, slow, not too smart to catch snack of little chicks.

If you want ideas on how to predator proof, feel free to post pictures of it now and maybe people can come by and give you some pointers. You're not the first one to have this problem, so you shouldn't be alone in thinking up and implementing solutions!

Good luck!