***Something has been having chicken dinners.*** Help greatly appreciated!

[TNchickies]

For starters, two of my chickens have now been eaten for supper (or breakfast.) **This post may be a little hard to bear for less strong-stomached, skirmish people. No offense meant at all, just warning.**

The first chicken, Snowball, a white Americana, very small and helpless, was taken on the fourteenth of this month. She went totally missing after escaping the pen, and after following a trail of feathers and skin to the woods, we found her very bare carcass. She was on top of a large two foot high stump, laying on her back. She was pretty much unidentifiable, except because of the white feathers and the fact that she was missing. We buried her and then went about our day, although we did make sure the chickens were well protected that night in the coop. Like i said, she had escaped the pen, so she was out in the open.

Today, the twenty-second, i came out to the coop at around four, and another chicken was missing; my Barred Rock hen, Hydi. She was inside of her run the day before, and the day of, so forth, so something must have gotten in. There are feathers and skin everywhere, and based on the feathers at the top of the five foot fence, i think something climbed over with their meal. Intelligently, (almost), the animal walked around to the front of the fence, which had wood leaning against, and seemed to have climbed on that like a ladder, using the support beams to jump on. She too was carried to the woods, but we could not find her carcass.

I don't know what could have gotten them other than a fox, possum, or raccoon, and i am quite unexperienced with predator identification.

Snowball's grave was also dug back up by an unnamed animal and the carcass was again dragged off, and left unfound.

Also, about a month ago, my rooster's legs were chewed up on the backsides, very deeply and roughly. I did not find the answer to this question either. That was the second attack. He is an extremely aggressive rooster, so i think he must have been defending the hens.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

---TN Chickies

 

[boskelli1571]

Hi there, sorry for your losses. It sounds like you have a smart raccoon in the neighborhood. Remove anything that can be used to climb in the pen. Do you have the top of the pen enclosed? It might be something to consider. Are your birds protected with hardware cloth (wire) or chicken wire, there's a big difference. You will need to be vigilant - the raccoon knows where lunch is now, it will be back. You can try to trap or shoot, whatever your preference.
The wounds on the rooster sound like they may be from a smaller critter - maybe a rat?? Check your coop for holes - anything bigger than 1/2 inch can be an entrance for rats & weasels.
Keep us posted and good luck on the hunting,

 

[TNchickies]

Thanks boskelli1571.

We just had another attack this morning. My little rooster had gotten out of the pen and must have been dragged off. We heard him crowing for a while, but we were unable to locate him. He eventually was silent, so we figured that was it.

I am sorta betting that it's a fox, just based on the early morning attack.

Any suggestions on how to trap this thing? I am defiantly not an experienced hunter, or trapper, so input is appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[EeyoreD]

Thanks boskelli1571.

We just had another attack this morning. My little rooster had gotten out of the pen and must have been dragged off. We heard him crowing for a while, but we were unable to locate him. He eventually was silent, so we figured that was it.

I am sorta betting that it's a fox, just based on the early morning attack.

Any suggestions on how to trap this thing? I am defiantly not an experienced hunter, or trapper, so input is appreciated.

Thanks!

Oh no, I'm so sorry for you, I know how this sucks.

I'm not convinced it's a fox, I agree with Boskelli - coons have incredibly variable hunting hours. Sometimes they're nocturnal, sometimes they're crepuscular (dawn/dusk), and I've also seen them wandering the yard in daylight. They're smart and they figure out when food is secured and isn't and will adjust. I'm not saying it's NOT a fox but fox don't tend to climb...

I'm going to include some trapping info below but note that most of my trapping is also in a region that allows me to have and discharge a firearm. Also know that I loathe relocating predators. If you choose to do that, that's up to you. Some things below will allow that. I disagree with it but please keep in mind that releasing predators just makes for smarter ones and makes them someone else's problem.

If it's a coon or a young possum (I've never caught a mature possum this way) I can't recommend Duke Dog-Proof traps enough:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/370975485356?lpid=82

Note, I provide the link so you get an idea of what they look like, you may want to shop around (just google literally: Duke Dog proof). But a 2-4 of those and a .22 are incredibly effective at coon control. But you WILL need a gun. You won't be able to free it or get to the trap safely without killing the animal. Anchor it to a corkscrew dog tie-out or a tree/shrub with wire (and I mean wire) otherwise it will walk off like some pirate coon Captain Hook only to go after your stuff again. (I had a HUGE coon pull the corkscrew dog tie out overnight (I check my traps twice a day) and I found the trap with a foot in it a half mile away. I was being funny about the pegleg, but I wasn't joking).

As for bait for those, a lot of people use marshmallows. They work. The first year I set them I knew I was overrun so I put something a bit more stinky to trap anything that might be around in miles. I used sardine bits. Make sure when you bait them you put some of the bait under the lever but some above. They're going to stick their hand in, they'll get the top bits and get greedy and work it hard enough that they'll pull the lever up to get the bottom bits.

Live Traps will catch a variety of things with varying success (like I said, I've caught possum in the dog proofs but only young ones) and are usually a good start if you don't know what you have. With these, if possible (and not grisly for you) use what they're eating. Feed, eggs, if you have the stomach for it, the parts of the previous kills. Test the trap mechanism though. Sometimes it's too twitchy (if you just bump it it's going to close before the thing even gets in there) sometimes it's stupidly tight and nothing is going to trip it. Another thing. Don't put the bait IN the trap, put the bait on the ground and put the trap on top of it. They're going to have to work to get it out which increases the chance that they'll trip it. If you just stick a leg or a can of catfood or whatever in there, they could just snake it out without ever even stepping on the pressure plate.

Live traps are a pain to shoot things in because of the narrow wire squares. But they're useful if you're in an area that doesn't allow firearms. Git a 55 gallon drum, fill it with water and drop the trap in. I dislike this method but in some areas it's you're only option.

I don't have much experience with foxes. I know they're around, I see their tracks in the winter, but they seem to stay away. But if you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

By the fact that you "found" the first victim (in your own words) "very bare body" I am venturing that you have one variety or the other of "chicken hawk" stalking your flock. Raptors eat chickens like a 3 year old child eats spaghetti, by stripping off long strings (or noodles) of meat and slurping them down. This way of feeding results in a "very bare body" but a corpse that is still articulated. It also means that the raptor needs to denude the body or rip out the victims feathers and pull off the skin before feeding can begin. Hence the trail of feathers and skin leading to the place were Snowball finally died. The meatier parts of a chicken being on the underside also means that a hawk would prefer that its chicken dinner is laying on its back before serious feeding begins.

Hawk are very good at catching and holding prey in their talons but hawks are notoriously poor at quickly killing large (a couple of pounds or more) prey. People on this forum regularly report rescuing partially eaten chickens from the talons of hawks and the chickens then making a full recovery. I rescued a rooster from beneath a Red Tail hawk, who despite being in the hawks clutches for 5 - 10 minutes was unscathed except for his feathers being mussed up and a couple of puncture holes in his left breast. What prevented the hawk from feeding on my still living rooster was a flock of crows dive bombing the Red Tail and thus taking his mind off of his meal while also alerting me.

Before we sing the praises of Crows too much, I am still unsure if these Crows hated hawks as much as they just wanted first dibs on my rooster. I have seen hawks feeding on either road kill coons, possums, or dogs, while two or three Crows waited patiently on the asphalt (no more than 3 to 5 feet away) for their turn to feed. Crows and hawks seem to get along just fine as long as there is enough protein to go around.

What desecrated Snowball's grave was likely a K9 of one species or the other, likely either a fox or a coyote. The rooster's wounds sound like a heel biting possum. Hydi's death also sounds like either a hawk of a fox kill, maybe with the combination of a hawk kill coupled with a fox salvage. If a fox proves to be the culprit look for a gray as well as a red fox. Grays love to climb.

 

[TNchickies]

Thanks to all of you. Your information was very helpful. I am not sure what i'm going to do yet.

 

[TNchickies]

I have had suggestions for an electric fence, and others. I will reply when i know anything. Thanks for all of your input.