Boy Howdy, I am just about as mad and upset and confused as I have ever been in 20 years of raising chickens. Friday night some sort of animal ripped my fence up and got in my coop and killed 32 of my birds. Of the few left half of them are probably not going to make it. I took some pictures but they are really gross and not something I really want to post.
Over the 20 years I've been raising birds I thought I had dealt with every type of varmit that lurkes in the woods behind my house. I know what it looks like when a coon or a possum kills one of the chickens but I have never seen damage like this and to as many birds that were killed in one night. Whatever got the birds ate there backs, many of them had deep wounds between their wings and there are feathers everywhere in my coop and pen. Several birds where just gathered up in a pile by the door I use to enter and exit. Most of them were already dead but a few were still alive but I could tell they weren't going to make it for long so I went ahead and put them out of their misery.
Does anyone know what type of animal would attack my birds like this with most all the wounds the same. Their backs eaten up and chewed into a mess. The coons I've had problems with would always kill a bird and drag it under the fence leaving feathers in the path, Possums will eat the chickens guts and leave the carcus laying in the middle of the coop somewhere. I don't know if this creature is a coyote (a group lives in the woods 1/2 mile north of me) or the bobcat I saw last year. There are also a lot of hawks in the area and they watch the birds all the time, my pen has a wire top on it though. What ever it was is big enough to pull my fence out of the ground and stretch it enough they could eventually, after a little digging, get under it.
I fixed the fence this afternoon and I'm going to borrow a trail cam tomorrow to see if I can maybe somehow see what caused all this damage. I usually don't shut my birds in the coop because the pen surrounding it has always been mostly secure and keep most unwanted visitors out. I got all the ones left inside tonight and closed them up in the building just it case this guy comes back again tonight. Its been this way for many years and has never been a big problem until now.
Does anybody have any idea what type creature would chew the backs up on all my birds, I need a chill pill real bad been a bad day!
Over the 20 years I've been raising birds I thought I had dealt with every type of varmit that lurkes in the woods behind my house. I know what it looks like when a coon or a possum kills one of the chickens but I have never seen damage like this and to as many birds that were killed in one night. Whatever got the birds ate there backs, many of them had deep wounds between their wings and there are feathers everywhere in my coop and pen. Several birds where just gathered up in a pile by the door I use to enter and exit. Most of them were already dead but a few were still alive but I could tell they weren't going to make it for long so I went ahead and put them out of their misery.
Does anyone know what type of animal would attack my birds like this with most all the wounds the same. Their backs eaten up and chewed into a mess. The coons I've had problems with would always kill a bird and drag it under the fence leaving feathers in the path, Possums will eat the chickens guts and leave the carcus laying in the middle of the coop somewhere. I don't know if this creature is a coyote (a group lives in the woods 1/2 mile north of me) or the bobcat I saw last year. There are also a lot of hawks in the area and they watch the birds all the time, my pen has a wire top on it though. What ever it was is big enough to pull my fence out of the ground and stretch it enough they could eventually, after a little digging, get under it.
I fixed the fence this afternoon and I'm going to borrow a trail cam tomorrow to see if I can maybe somehow see what caused all this damage. I usually don't shut my birds in the coop because the pen surrounding it has always been mostly secure and keep most unwanted visitors out. I got all the ones left inside tonight and closed them up in the building just it case this guy comes back again tonight. Its been this way for many years and has never been a big problem until now.
Does anybody have any idea what type creature would chew the backs up on all my birds, I need a chill pill real bad been a bad day!
