Sigh.. :(

[AllyJane]

Sigh.. I went out this morning to feed my lovely chickens and there was feathers everywhere and a huge dug out hole...

We recently lost 2 8week old chicks to my boyfriends dog (Which has been given away).. and we had

2 road island reds
2 orps
1 meat chicken (Not for meat haha)
2 silkie roosters
1 bantam
and two chicks (The ones not killed by a dog)

This morning i came out to only 2 roads, 1 meat and 2 orps and 1 silkie..

My fav chicken (I know its sad to have one) is gone

Guh! Im so angry, here are some pictures of the crime scene, could someone tell me about it? (In Australia, Gold coast)

So far in the space of a night i lost 4 chickens and two last week. GR!


At the front of the chicken pen
The poo i found which does not belong to our german shepherd More feathers.
The whole dug,

There is a whole bunch of other feathers around.. I tried finding a trail but it ended a few metres down from the whole.

 

[drohan]

Well, If you lived in the states, I would swear it was a raccoon. They leave their poop lying around, make a huge mess when they get after your chickens and will certainly dig under the fence to get too them.

You absolutely must bury your fence about a foot deep to keep the diggers out. Where I live that is nearly impossible as you hit rock about 2 inches in, so I use concrete block stacked around to keep them out. So far so good.

I have a favorite hen too. Sorry you lost her. Act fast. He will be back now that he knows where to get some good grub.

 

[motherofmolly]

my fence is wrapped around the pen. so i have it under the pen too. the sides are then tied to the bottom so nothing can sneak in anywhere. like a big box. definately fence under or buried down.

 

[AllyJane]

I wish we could dig down but we move the coop so they can get fresh grass, i have a feeling he will be, or she i was planning to use one of our chicks that died last week and bait with poison in it, if i have the heart to rig it up, if she's going to be back then she will just keep digging under it Sigh.

Im going to have to pull a allnighter and keep watch.

Umm, lucky we don't get racoons but there is ALOT of mess from feathers, and a few chunks of flesh with feathers attacked, i just can't get why it took two chicks and two fully grown chickens?! Did whatever did this hunt in packs?!

 

[AllyJane]

I had all the sides chicken wire double coated, the only thing we can do is just like, put a floor of chicken wire in the bottom so we can still move it.

but we removed the wire at it was beaten up.. Guh!

 

[motherofmolly]

i think if it was a pack of animals, you would have more activity and poop.

i have cattle wire under the coop. i still can move it but it does make it just a little harder as it drags. but would be fine if you can prop it up a little off the ground.

 

[drohan]

Yeah, unfortunately, chicken wire is not very good at actually protecting the chickens. Your best bet for that is a fine mesh wire that is heavier than chicken wire. You could use one that has a half inch square pattern so that the chickens can peck through to get at the bugs. Another option would be to build a stationary coop and then put them up at night. It would require work, but they would be safe.

Don't think they were hunted in a pack or they would all be gone. Could have been a couple of predators though. Since you don't have skunks or weasels, I am thinking fox.

 

[AllyJane]

Yeah, unfortunately, chicken wire is not very good at actually protecting the chickens. Your best bet for that is a fine mesh wire that is heavier than chicken wire. You could use one that has a half inch square pattern so that the chickens can peck through to get at the bugs. Another option would be to build a stationary coop and then put them up at night. It would require work, but they would be safe.

Don't think they were hunted in a pack or they would all be gone. Could have been a couple of predators though. Since you don't have skunks or weasels, I am thinking fox.

Yeah we think fox too, this is our first attack ever... Like there is still a bunch if feathers everywhere, like someone ripped them all up and blew them into the air.

Well I'm going on lookout tonight.