Hi... My day is off to a horrible start, this morning I was walking out to care for my chickens... On my way to the coop I found this group of feathers on my driveway, it was clear that last night one of my birds was killed...
I went into the coop and counted up my birds there was one that was missing, my favorite RIR hen, a 4 year old named Honey was gone... I named her Honey because of her light color compared to my other RIRs, I got her as a day old chick from McMurray, she has gone missing and returned many times throughout the years but I knew I would never see her alive again this time.
Me and my brother searched around the coop to see what evidence we could find of a predator attack other than the original clump of feathers. I thought that maybe Honey had stayed out last night and maybe early in the morning she was nailed by a Red Tailed Hawk on the driveway. I thought this because the original group of feathers was 20 ft away from the coop on a asphalt driveway next to my dog kennel, it seemed like a really odd spot for a predator to drag its kill. Also, a new pair of Red tailed hawks moved in this January, they are preparing a nesting site just 300 ft from my coop up in a old pine tree. The old resident pair of Red tails lives a couple thousand feet from my coop out in my back woods, they show no interest in my chickens but this new pair has attempted several attacks, all fails.
This theory was destroyed shortly though, as I walked around the coop I found a oddly placed wing feather, it was soaked and on the other side of the coop. My birds molted a few weeks ago so I found it odd that this wing feather was laying on the ground behind the coop. A few feet from this feather I found a small clump of feathers on a small log, these were clearly not naturally molted feathers...
A few feet from the log feathers there was some more feathers, a few feet from them was a light red tail feather. I knew this was a trail leading me to Honey's carcass and I was prepared to find the mangled body of my favorite RIR hen...
The trail continued until I reached my second, unused, chicken coop 40 ft from the first coop. It was pretty clear that this was no hawk, a hawk would not drag a chicken all over the place like this...
I took a peek under the coop and I saw a suspicious clump of fur... It was fuzzy and not moving I thought it might be an opossum... I had my little brother watch the clump of fur as I went inside the coop. I stomped on the coop floor above where the clump was. My brother said it did not move. I looked closer and I could see a wing sticking up from the ground under the coop near the back side...
I could not get a clear look at the fuzzy creature from the back side of the coop either, he was hiding in between two large beams that were holding up the coop. What I could get a good look at from the back side of the coop was my murdered chicken... I pulled her out and was disgusted by what I saw, don't scroll down further if you don't want to see a mutilated chicken. She had gotten caught up on a wooden beam and that prevented the murderer from pulling her further under so I could pull her out...
I was very angry but there is no problem that will solve... I do have a solution for this predator though...
I fixed my old fox trap up and baited it with the old hen. I like using bait that was killed by predators because it makes them angry when their food is stolen back from them and now they don't have any food so they go hunting again and they find their kill stashed in this metal contraption, they go inside and then they never leave alive again
Also, I think it is kind of funny that the bird they killed is what kills them in the end.
I was kinda thinking that clump of fur might be a dead rabbit, I have to many rabbits to keep track of and maybe the animal took one of them out to. I think the predator is either a opossum or a raccoon, what do you guys think? I think opossum because of how little the predator ate after the kill but that seems like a lot of dragging around for an opossum to do. I think Raccoon because of how far the predator dragged the chicken but that seems like such a small amount of food for a coon to eat. Also in my past experience with coons, they usually stay with the kill throughout the day. We will know soon enough, I am going to be trapping around the coop for several days, i'll keep everyone updated with what I catch.
On a lighter note, the Sandhill cranes and Canadian geese have returned to the Wisconsin marshlands and their calls are booming out through the cold air. Spring is almost here and it is so fun watching the cranes fight in my fields and secure nesting spots around the back marsh of my property. The geese are fighting over my pound and getting ready to nest too. The next great birds to return to Wisconsin will be the Great Blue Herons, I have a massive colony of them in the old oak trees behind my pound, last year there was 11 breeding pairs! I can't wait to see them return this year and build more nests. Along with the herons it will soon be the breeding season for the wild turkeys, I miss hearing their calls echoing from the woods in the early mornings. And soon enough my favorite bird will return, the barn swallows, there is always a colony of barn swallow in my ancient barn, they have been here since my dad was a little kid. They did poorly last spring, only 2 pairs returned. At the end of last year when they left there was 23, I hope a large amount of them have survived to make the journey back. All these birds returning cheers me up every year, the cranes mark the end of the harsh Wisconsin winter. This year should be great for my chickens to, 75 new birds are arriving this May and I can't wait. Also, the local swap meet is coming up soon and I will be able to get TL some new friends. Although it has been a horrible day so far, there is always something to look forward to
I went into the coop and counted up my birds there was one that was missing, my favorite RIR hen, a 4 year old named Honey was gone... I named her Honey because of her light color compared to my other RIRs, I got her as a day old chick from McMurray, she has gone missing and returned many times throughout the years but I knew I would never see her alive again this time.
Me and my brother searched around the coop to see what evidence we could find of a predator attack other than the original clump of feathers. I thought that maybe Honey had stayed out last night and maybe early in the morning she was nailed by a Red Tailed Hawk on the driveway. I thought this because the original group of feathers was 20 ft away from the coop on a asphalt driveway next to my dog kennel, it seemed like a really odd spot for a predator to drag its kill. Also, a new pair of Red tailed hawks moved in this January, they are preparing a nesting site just 300 ft from my coop up in a old pine tree. The old resident pair of Red tails lives a couple thousand feet from my coop out in my back woods, they show no interest in my chickens but this new pair has attempted several attacks, all fails.
This theory was destroyed shortly though, as I walked around the coop I found a oddly placed wing feather, it was soaked and on the other side of the coop. My birds molted a few weeks ago so I found it odd that this wing feather was laying on the ground behind the coop. A few feet from this feather I found a small clump of feathers on a small log, these were clearly not naturally molted feathers...
A few feet from the log feathers there was some more feathers, a few feet from them was a light red tail feather. I knew this was a trail leading me to Honey's carcass and I was prepared to find the mangled body of my favorite RIR hen...
The trail continued until I reached my second, unused, chicken coop 40 ft from the first coop. It was pretty clear that this was no hawk, a hawk would not drag a chicken all over the place like this...
I took a peek under the coop and I saw a suspicious clump of fur... It was fuzzy and not moving I thought it might be an opossum... I had my little brother watch the clump of fur as I went inside the coop. I stomped on the coop floor above where the clump was. My brother said it did not move. I looked closer and I could see a wing sticking up from the ground under the coop near the back side...
I could not get a clear look at the fuzzy creature from the back side of the coop either, he was hiding in between two large beams that were holding up the coop. What I could get a good look at from the back side of the coop was my murdered chicken... I pulled her out and was disgusted by what I saw, don't scroll down further if you don't want to see a mutilated chicken. She had gotten caught up on a wooden beam and that prevented the murderer from pulling her further under so I could pull her out...
I was very angry but there is no problem that will solve... I do have a solution for this predator though...
I fixed my old fox trap up and baited it with the old hen. I like using bait that was killed by predators because it makes them angry when their food is stolen back from them and now they don't have any food so they go hunting again and they find their kill stashed in this metal contraption, they go inside and then they never leave alive again
Also, I think it is kind of funny that the bird they killed is what kills them in the end.I was kinda thinking that clump of fur might be a dead rabbit, I have to many rabbits to keep track of and maybe the animal took one of them out to. I think the predator is either a opossum or a raccoon, what do you guys think? I think opossum because of how little the predator ate after the kill but that seems like a lot of dragging around for an opossum to do. I think Raccoon because of how far the predator dragged the chicken but that seems like such a small amount of food for a coon to eat. Also in my past experience with coons, they usually stay with the kill throughout the day. We will know soon enough, I am going to be trapping around the coop for several days, i'll keep everyone updated with what I catch.
On a lighter note, the Sandhill cranes and Canadian geese have returned to the Wisconsin marshlands and their calls are booming out through the cold air. Spring is almost here and it is so fun watching the cranes fight in my fields and secure nesting spots around the back marsh of my property. The geese are fighting over my pound and getting ready to nest too. The next great birds to return to Wisconsin will be the Great Blue Herons, I have a massive colony of them in the old oak trees behind my pound, last year there was 11 breeding pairs! I can't wait to see them return this year and build more nests. Along with the herons it will soon be the breeding season for the wild turkeys, I miss hearing their calls echoing from the woods in the early mornings. And soon enough my favorite bird will return, the barn swallows, there is always a colony of barn swallow in my ancient barn, they have been here since my dad was a little kid. They did poorly last spring, only 2 pairs returned. At the end of last year when they left there was 23, I hope a large amount of them have survived to make the journey back. All these birds returning cheers me up every year, the cranes mark the end of the harsh Wisconsin winter. This year should be great for my chickens to, 75 new birds are arriving this May and I can't wait. Also, the local swap meet is coming up soon and I will be able to get TL some new friends. Although it has been a horrible day so far, there is always something to look forward to
