The Worst!!!!!

[suki'smom]

O my goodness I am soo very sorry! I had a dog come in my yard a few years back and wipe out all but one of my chickens that had just started laying. At least his owners replaced them, not much you can do about wild animals but maybe shoot it or contact the DNR and have them trap and relocate it. My heart goes out to you and your babies.

 

[dufus]

Quote:
i like your attitude!!!!

 

[LostGosling]

I'm so sorry!

I don't know if a coyote, or even a pack of coyotes would do somthing like this. Were all the bodies still there? If they were, then domestic dogs are to blame. They will come into somebody's yard, and kill all or pretty close to all of your chickens for entertainment. They may eat a little bit of what they catch, but for the most part they just treat them like feathery sqeaky toys that can run from them. I guess it could have been a pack of weasels, too. They're another group that likes to kill for fun. Good luck with your surviving birds, and I hope whatever it was doesn't come back

 

[terrilhb]

I am so sorry for your loss. I can not even imagine driving up and seeing that devastation. I hope you find out who did it. Put an end to their reign of terror. Hugs to you.

 

[raisingkidsandchickens]

I'm so sorry. Its heartbreaking to lose new chickens, much less those you loved and cared for

 

[7L Farm]

Be very careful about letting the chickens out because until you can kill that yote he will be around looking for a free meal. We kill all the yotes we see here at 7L. Yotes in my mind are good for nothing. Hogs are in the same category as the yotes worthless.

 

[mrpekinduck]

im so sorry that must be horrible

 

[Barn Maid Ann]

I live in a small dairy based farm town on 31 acres. Five acres cleared for our home and barn, the rest is wetlands connected to the neighbors' wooded acreages. So it is very hard to destroy the coyotes all together. I know I have a pack living in our woods beyond the pasture, because I have heard them sound off at every siren that goes down the main road a mile away. Sounds like there are dozens, with all the yapping and yowling they do. My DH is normally home during the day, but has been out of town, and I think that is why they came in like they did, with the place deserted except for the animals. I would never have expected it from coyotes, but I do not believe dogs could have done this. We have no stray dog problem here.

Another friend thinks it could be a family of fisher cats. I have heard a new strange creature at night, and when describing it, was told it was definitely a fisher.

Though I did come face to face with a coyote, as I walked out of my barn with one of my horses one morning earlier in the week. The day of the kill, some stalls were open, and our wrap around front porch is enclosed underneath, with a small opening under the steps. The chickens and the cats lounge under there often. I think some of the survivors made it under there and hid safely. My youngest, a group of 3 blue Orps, ran in the chicken coop and stayed safe, and one Black Jersey. Only ONE of my older laying hens was saved. A very savvy hen who is pretty much untouchable and quite flighty, making her NOT a good candidate for predation, thank goodness.
It looks like the others were all taken by surprise and had no chance. I only found one dead body, a 4 month old light Brahma, in the woods behind our detached garage. The rest of the kills were evident only by big groupings of feathers. And I could identify each and every bird as I found them. It was awful walking the property and finding one kill site after another. They were pretty much spread in every direction, over the 5 acres. Which leads me to believe there was a big packSeveral were hundreds of feet out in my horse pasture. My horses were fine, and very calm, when I got home, but there is no doubt they witnessed a lot of death and destruction. Sigh....

 

[terrilhb]

Once again I am crying for your loss. I am so sorry.

 

[Mamma_Duck04]

2 Christmases ago, at my mom's in MO, we had a night coyote ambush that attacked one of her young horses. It was crazy, I was outside enjoying the very foggy night after putting presents under the tree & listening to the horses walking about (it was so foggy I couldn't even see one of the horses standing at the fence just 30ft in front of me- I could even hear it breathing! lol) Then all of a sudden you heard dead quiet, then 3 smaller groups of coyotes sounding off, you could hear them move behind the horse pasture (as they have in MANY MANY years past without ever touching hers or neighboring larger livestock). There wasn't even hoof stomping/running or a horse squeal, only the kill-cackles coyotes do, but we saw the injury the next morning.

That was the beginning of a bad spell with that pack. Over the course of that winter, into the next spring/summer, they would regularly move into the horse pasture, through it to the barn, up into the front pasture in front of the house by the road- even walking right up to within 30ft of 5 humans when they were trimming the horses' hooves (it just sat & watched them). These were multiple coyotes, not a sickly individual. And all but the night attack on the horse were all during broad daylight.

I was flabbergasted over this whole situation as the pack usually keeps to about 5-6 except when they have their litters, then move out of the immediate area for the summer/fall. But this pack had gotten up to 15+ & was ravaging the area & had all gotten so brazen. They stayed longer into the year until the following fall then all but disappeared. Now the pack is back to its normal 5-6 head & staying to their normal patterns. What's more puzzling is that same time period when they got so brazen, there were more small prey critters running rampant yet the coyotes were going after several large animals (they successfully took down a few adult cows in a neighbor's pasture).

I never doubt coyotes, especially when there's 'free lunch' running about- moreso during litter time for them.