South Carolina

[The Hustons]

So so sorry to hear that.

 

[Wildivy2112]

So sad for you. Why in the world would something need to kill so many at one time?

 

[jonsccm]

So sorry! Did you find any thing that have you an idea of what it was?

 

[Cknldy]

Scavenge what is left of your coop. Surely something can be put together even if it is smaller. The remaining chickens are probably REALLY glad to be seeing you! It may be longer before you get eggs now but maybe if you can get a strong coop together then you may be able to find someone to swap some of your younger birds for a pullet or two already laying or at point-of-lay age. (Is there a possibility that domestic dogs did all of this? Most wild creatures aren't going to stick around or expell extra energy to destroy structures after making a way in to the 'meal'.)

 

[Stormimay]

I'm confused as to what might have done it. I only heard my guineas yell once, and by the time I got out there, the damage was done. One guinea and two chickens are gone, except for one wing and a whole lot of feathers. One of the chicken corpses was headless, but we found the head a few feet away. All of the others were fine and bloodless, except for a twisted backward neck. That is 9 bloodless broken neck kills. What would do that? Also, my coop was for the most part untouched, which gets even crazier since that's where they all were! In one spot the netting, which should stand up to raccoons, dogs, etc, was not solid, I'd patched it, but it wasn't a large patch and I thought I'd done a really good job. But the patch was pulled off and something had squeezed through so I'm thinking raccoon...but another weird thing...that hole didn't lead to the run. It was on the outside. But the chickens were all found in the run, except for three (including the headless one) which were found outside the far end away from the coop. The fence was torn down in three places, which I don't think raccoons could have done but a dog could, once by the coop next to the hole, and twice on the far end again. I dressed and ran out as fast as I could and when I got there a couple of bodies were still warm (though definitely dead) but most of them were completely cold. Could this have been two attacks within just a couple of hours by different animals? Did I just not hear my guineas or were they just silent? There was no barking! We do have two neighbor dogs that are off their leash more often than not, and the trail of feathers leads toward their house, but not close enough for any sort of proof. We've had issues with them in our yard but never near our chickens before. Our dog killed a chick yesterday, though I don't think he meant to? But he was locked up inside.
I don't know what to do. The damage was enough that while I still have lots of usable stuff, I don't think I have the right stuff to build the fortress I apparently need. And I certainly don't have the money right now. I'm thinking about giving my remaining chicken and the 5 little chicks to a friend, and just waiting till I have enough money to build a chicken vault. Which wouldn't be till next year. That's if I can gather the heart to try again. My daughters have been crying all night.

 

[KPenley]

So sorry for your loss! in my limited experience, missing heads mean raccoons...but there are so many predators out there!

 

[EggieRowe]

I'm confused as to what might have done it. I only heard my guineas yell once, and by the time I got out there, the damage was done. One guinea and two chickens are gone, except for one wing and a whole lot of feathers. One of the chicken corpses was headless, but we found the head a few feet away. All of the others were fine and bloodless, except for a twisted backward neck. That is 9 bloodless broken neck kills. What would do that? Also, my coop was for the most part untouched, which gets even crazier since that's where they all were! In one spot the netting, which should stand up to raccoons, dogs, etc, was not solid, I'd patched it, but it wasn't a large patch and I thought I'd done a really good job. But the patch was pulled off and something had squeezed through so I'm thinking raccoon...but another weird thing...that hole didn't lead to the run. It was on the outside. But the chickens were all found in the run, except for three (including the headless one) which were found outside the far end away from the coop. The fence was torn down in three places, which I don't think raccoons could have done but a dog could, once by the coop next to the hole, and twice on the far end again. I dressed and ran out as fast as I could and when I got there a couple of bodies were still warm (though definitely dead) but most of them were completely cold. Could this have been two attacks within just a couple of hours by different animals? Did I just not hear my guineas or were they just silent? There was no barking! We do have two neighbor dogs that are off their leash more often than not, and the trail of feathers leads toward their house, but not close enough for any sort of proof. We've had issues with them in our yard but never near our chickens before. Our dog killed a chick yesterday, though I don't think he meant to? But he was locked up inside.
I don't know what to do. The damage was enough that while I still have lots of usable stuff, I don't think I have the right stuff to build the fortress I apparently need. And I certainly don't have the money right now. I'm thinking about giving my remaining chicken and the 5 little chicks to a friend, and just waiting till I have enough money to build a chicken vault. Which wouldn't be till next year. That's if I can gather the heart to try again. My daughters have been crying all night.

Raccoons can chew through poultry wire. It's really only meant to contain chickens, not keep predators out. Dogs will grab by the neck too - as I'm learning with my latest rescue dog. She's killed two and grabbed a couple others and carried them around the yard like that. Raccoons wiped out my first flock of 6. In a week. We were mid-move and saved the chickens for last. It would take one or two each night. Left me one decapitated and one wrung. Others disappeared completely. My run had no roof and trees in it so they must have crossed trees, climbed down, and carried up into trees. Sure it was a raccoon because of muddy handprints on coop. Took me a year to start over, but so glad I did. I cant imagine life without chickens!

 

[Cknldy]

Yep, dogs will take off heads even if they don't eat it. It really sounds like a dog or two got to your coop. It is hard for me to imagine coons getting the fencing down like that. We had 2 small dogs (strays that decided to stay with us) that snipped the heads right off of some 7 and 8 week old chicks. We had them in a large dog cage on grass in the yard, went to town and came back to carnage. The most rambunctious little dog would hit the side of the cage and wait for the panicked chicks to flap around then hit it again thus lifting the cage enough for a panicked chick to 'escape' through the larger holes in the bottom of the cage right into the jaws of the waiting other dog. It is just fun for the dogs since they aren't doing it for an actual meal.

 

[Woodi]

I'm confused as to what might have done it. I only heard my guineas yell once, and by the time I got out there, the damage was done. One guinea and two chickens are gone, except for one wing and a whole lot of feathers. One of the chicken corpses was headless, but we found the head a few feet away. All of the others were fine and bloodless, except for a twisted backward neck. That is 9 bloodless broken neck kills. What would do that? Also, my coop was for the most part untouched, which gets even crazier since that's where they all were! In one spot the netting, which should stand up to raccoons, dogs, etc, was not solid, I'd patched it, but it wasn't a large patch and I thought I'd done a really good job. But the patch was pulled off and something had squeezed through so I'm thinking raccoon...but another weird thing...that hole didn't lead to the run. It was on the outside. But the chickens were all found in the run, except for three (including the headless one) which were found outside the far end away from the coop. The fence was torn down in three places, which I don't think raccoons could have done but a dog could, once by the coop next to the hole, and twice on the far end again. I dressed and ran out as fast as I could and when I got there a couple of bodies were still warm (though definitely dead) but most of them were completely cold. Could this have been two attacks within just a couple of hours by different animals? Did I just not hear my guineas or were they just silent? There was no barking! We do have two neighbor dogs that are off their leash more often than not, and the trail of feathers leads toward their house, but not close enough for any sort of proof. We've had issues with them in our yard but never near our chickens before. Our dog killed a chick yesterday, though I don't think he meant to? But he was locked up inside.
I don't know what to do. The damage was enough that while I still have lots of usable stuff, I don't think I have the right stuff to build the fortress I apparently need. And I certainly don't have the money right now. I'm thinking about giving my remaining chicken and the 5 little chicks to a friend, and just waiting till I have enough money to build a chicken vault. Which wouldn't be till next year. That's if I can gather the heart to try again. My daughters have been crying all night.

One thing that helps deter predators from tearing into fences is electric fence wire around your pen. One wire about 6 inches from the ground, another 6 to 8 inches above that one. You can get a fence charger for a decent price. A wet nose, or little paw on an electric fence wire changes their plans very quickly!!!!

 

[Stormimay]

Thanks all. We are currently thinking it was a two pronged attack: raccoons peeled back the netting and chased them into the run and killed a bunch of them, and then some neighborhood dogs heard the fun and chased the remaining chickens and raccoons around the run, knocking down the fence and killing the few left alive. My coop was dog proof, and I thought raccoon proof, but they found a small tear in the heavy gauge pvc-coated netting that I had patched. They pulled the patch up and pushed through. My run wasn't raccoon proof because I locked the chickens up every night.

I'm going to rebuild, but it will take a while. I want everything really solid this time; I can't lose a whole flock like that again.