Something is killing our birds during the day

[GC-Raptor]

Wow, scary and cool, we don't have bobcats around here! Well, we do, but they stay in the woods.

My chicken pen is just to the left of camera.
I was in the pen just 20 minutes earlier. GC

 

[barn2717]

a week ago, we dug trenches and buried hardware cloth about a foot or so into the ground leaving about 3' above ground around the entire perimeter of the chicken yard. We have 3' of chicken wire attached to the hardware cloth that extends about 2' above the hardware cloth. there is no evidence of even an attempt at digging from the outside. Our 8' x 8' coop is attached to the back of our pole barn and the fenced chicken yard is 20' by 60'. There are two trees within the chicken yard. I spray foamed the approx 1/2" gap between the coop and barn just now. I'm confident nothing could get through there, but what the hey. I'd love to use netting, but if it is a weasel I think I'd be wasting my time. After a previous death, we kept the girls locked in their coop for two days and had a trail cam set up. Zip, zero, na da. I have trapped three raccoons in the area since the last death (prior to yesterday). I did get another raccoon last night, and have the trap set again now. I had my trail cam set on the trap last night, and the one I caught had three family members with it last night. We've had chickens for about 8 years without incident.....

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

Try being unpredictable, its not sure fire, but it may throw animals of habit of. Go out at 7 one morning, and 6:30 the next. Go out with no purpose, just to look around. Are the heads outside the run, or in. I have some friends who's chickens heads were actually pulled through the wire.

 

[GRacer3648]

Raccoons usually eat the heads and leave the rest. Fisher cats got into my coop ones and they make a mess with the chickens. Does it only get 1 at a time or more? Foxes usually will kill everything and take a few with them leaving only feathers behind.

 

[esme13]

a week ago, we dug trenches and buried hardware cloth about a foot or so into the ground leaving about 3' above ground around the entire perimeter of the chicken yard. We have 3' of chicken wire attached to the hardware cloth that extends about 2' above the hardware cloth. there is no evidence of even an attempt at digging from the outside. Our 8' x 8' coop is attached to the back of our pole barn and the fenced chicken yard is 20' by 60'. There are two trees within the chicken yard. I spray foamed the approx 1/2" gap between the coop and barn just now. I'm confident nothing could get through there, but what the hey. I'd love to use netting, but if it is a weasel I think I'd be wasting my time. After a previous death, we kept the girls locked in their coop for two days and had a trail cam set up. Zip, zero, na da. I have trapped three raccoons in the area since the last death (prior to yesterday). I did get another raccoon last night, and have the trap set again now. I had my trail cam set on the trap last night, and the one I caught had three family members with it last night. We've had chickens for about 8 years without incident.....

Can you post a picture of the outside of you don’t mind? Could you add some sort of covering such as netting for now? Because even with netting if something breaks in than you have an idea how big and where they are attempting from. Best of luck. And just keep checking at all random hrs during the day. It could be a hawk, you honestly never know until you see who and what it is.

 

[Sarkchick]

We've had chickens for several years and have not had predator problems until this summer. We had regular chicken wire around the perimeter of their yard (40' x 60'). their 8' x 8' coop is within that area. Four times we have found a decapitated bird in the afternoon. From what we read, we though weasel....so we tore down all the fence and replaced it with buried 1/2" x 1/2" metal fabric fencing. All seemed good for a week, but today we found another dead bird. Same story, head cut off. I'm thinking about bird netting over the entire area now.......will that work? I don't know if it is a hawk or if something is climbing over the fence......but it happens during the day. Ideas?

Every time mine lost their head, it was a possum. I know they do a lot of good but they got to go when they kill my chickens. I set live traps then took them 10 miles into the woods.

 

[cmom]

will 2" netting work?

I have 2" netting covering my pens and electric wire around my pens and coops, concrete under the gates and in places I dug a trench along the bottom of the fence and buried welded wire in the trench attaching it to the bottom of the fence. So far so good. This is what a Red tail hawk killed one day when I was at a Dr. appt several months ago. The hawk found a spot to get through the netting. I have since fixed it and no more prob;ems. I put the netting up originally because of an owl killing some birds. Good luck...

This is the netting I used.

 

[Sarkchick]

I have 2" netting covering my pens and electric wire around my pens and coops, concrete under the gates and in places I dug a trench along the bottom of the fence and buried welded wire in the trench attaching it to the bottom of the fence. So far so good. This is what a Red tail hawk killed one day when I was at a Dr. appt several months ago. The hawk found a spot to get through the netting. I have since fixed it and no more prob;ems. I put the netting up originally because of an owl killing some birds. Good luck...
View attachment 2216020
This is the netting I used.
View attachment 2216023View attachment 2216025

I have the same netting over my run. Works great for air defense. But the squirrels run thru it like it wasn't there.

 

[cmom]

I'm lucky, I haven't had a problem with squirrels.

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

Yesterday, a chipmunk tried to climb the hardware cloth, soooooo cute