The great Chicken Massacre of 2019

[chickenpal147]

Sometime in the early evening yesterday I had some kind of animal come and kill 8 of my chickens. We found 3 of the bodies where the other 5 are is a mystery. One of the chickens heads was severed and laying a few inches from the body. I kind of think it was a fox or a bobcat. It I’m not sure. Does anybody know what kind of animal would do that?

 

[Mrs. Light Sussex]

So sorry for your loss
That MO fits many predators, as you will see many will be mentioned.

Having suffered a fox attack leaving 23 dead, I feel for you.

 

[getaclue]

Regardless of what may have done the damage, further strengthening, and reinforcing for predator protection is in order. You might want to consider electric fencing too.

 

[so lucky]

It has been said that raccoons kill for the heck of it. Also weasels. Do you have a problem with dogs running loose? This sounds like a dog MO to me.
Maybe an old wives tale, but I thought foxes would kill as needed for food, not indiscriminately.
I agree with getaclue, time to reinforce the fortress.

 

[chickenpal147]

Both of our neighbors do have dogs that are allowed to roam freely. But it wasn’t them. One of our neighbors has chickens also so their dogs have been trained not to go for chickens and they watch their dogs when they are out. And my other neighbors dogs are to small to be able to grab our chickens (I’ve seen them try but their mouths are to small to grab the chickens on their body) Where I live we don’t have weasels. It could have been a coon but I haven’t seen any coin droppings in our yard for a while.

 

[Peppercorngal]

The only time we lost numerous chickens was to bears that attacked and broke the doors of the coop. We lost our entire flock of 15 except for two hens that hid and were quiet. We heard it happen and rushed out, but it was already over. We later searched and found the feathers and one dead headless hen up in the hills along with evidence of at least 3 bears. We built a new coop just like a house with a steel door and extra long deadbolt. This year the bears were back, but got nothin for their trouble! I'm so sorry for your loss, I know what that is like. Time to reinforce the coop and run. It's worth it!!

 

[Howard E]

A bit more information would help.

Best guess as to time of day? Daylight hours or after dark?

Where were the birds....best guess? Still out and about? Ranging? In a run or coop?

If in a coop, any signs of entry?

Condition of the dead birds found....other than the one missing it's head......bites to the back of the neck or big bites like a dog would do? Strewn about.....or piled in a group.....partially buried or ??????

How many birds do you have left?

The prime suspects for multiple kills all at once are coons during the spring when teaching the kids to hunt.....weasels, minks or one of the cousins year round, and dogs. Each has it's own signature.....none sound quite like what you found.

Video evidence of bobcats making multiple kills has recently turned up, and in that video, the cat left with the birds and came back for more.

 

[chickenpal147]

Unfortunately with this new coop that we bought ( converted shed) the sellers didn’t make a run. So they have been free range except for at night. Usually the dog is out with them and they are fine but the one time we couldn’t keep the dog out was bad. Looking at seeing how much our feed store is selling electric runs and traps for so I can let my chickens and ducks out again without being scared.

 

[chickenpal147]

A bit more information would help.

Best guess as to time of day? Daylight hours or after dark?

Where were the birds....best guess? Still out and about? Ranging? In a run or coop?

If in a coop, any signs of entry?

Condition of the dead birds found....other than the one missing it's head......bites to the back of the neck or big bites like a dog would do? Strewn about.....or piled in a group.....partially buried or ??????

How many birds do you have left?

The prime suspects for multiple kills all at once are coons during the spring when teaching the kids to hunt.....weasels, minks or one of the cousins year round, and dogs. Each has it's own signature.....none sound quite like what you found.

Video evidence of bobcats making multiple kills has recently turned up, and in that video, the cat left with the birds and came back for more.

I think it was right around dusk because the chickens haven’t gone in to the coop yet, because there was no sign of chickens being attacked anywhere around the coop. I was at the store when it happened so I don’t really know what happened. The chickens that I found were scattered all over the yard. All of the ones I found had puncture marks around the base of there neck and in the breast area.

 

[Howard E]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ntire-flock-in-2-hours.1212968/#post-19328522

So out and about.....and bite patterns......narrows it down to dogs......who typically don't make off with the birds.......or a bobcat......who does.