Thief Stealing Chickens. Please Help!

[ReallyGoodUsername]

Hi There,

First off I should clarify and give a lil’ context. I live in the suburbs with a flock of around 60 (pre thief) ducks and chickens. I don’t think my neighbors like my hobby especially when I used to own guineas. But recently about a week and a half ago we started to notice our a few birds went missing. We scoured our whole yard for feathers, bones, or anything that would give us a clue as to what happened to our birds. A few more nights pass and more birds start to go missing again. No carcasses. Nothing. This is when we start to get suspicious. The thief continued to come and pick and choose which ones to take, likely at night because birds I saw during the day have been stolen. The thief has not stolen a single duck. (probably because they slee on our porch out of site. Which is why I’m certain it is a human, because they would be easier to pick off) I also recently found a dead body of a (Young healthy) serama of mine inside my coop which makes me think they killed it for some reason. I should also mention that at first they have only been stealing my silkies and once all of them had been taken they went on to a few of my seramas.

I know I should obviously do a security camera, but if I do I feel like it’s likely that they’ll just be wearing a hood or something like that and if not I’m not even sure that’ll help. Will the police even care? And the gate closest to my coop is locked I plan on locking the rest of them. But it’s likely they hopped it.

Sorry for the long story, but any help is appreciated.

 

[Isadora]

Absolutely set up a camera. Even if you cannot ID the person, at least you know you are dealing with a human and not a predator.
The police question depends on the area you live and how busy they are. Having proof on camera will help them out a lot.

 

[FloorCandy]

Imo, you need to set up a camera facing the coop and one that gets a broad sweep of the yard, maybe set in an overlooking attic window, you need to lock all gates and put up no trespassing signs. Unless you secure the yard, a trespasser can invent a reason they entered, like I was looking for my friends dog and saw your fence open and thought it might have gone in there blah blah. You can’t call law enforcement until you know whether it’s human or animal predators. Search Craigslist and local for sale ads to try to see if they’re selling your chickens. People could be taking them because they don’t like you having them, they could be selling them for a quick buck, it could be terrible teenagers doing cruel things to them for fun, and you need to put a stop to whatever is happening.

If you are not allowed to have them, it puts you in a bind with law enforcement. You might do best to lock all animals up into the coop at night, try to use locks on all the gates and the coop, and choose locks that require someone to damage your property to bypass. It’s one thing to jump a fence, and another thing all together to destroy property, and/or break into a storage building on your land. Do you have a dog? Has it heard any ruckus? If your dog sleeps in a bedroom or somewhere it can’t really hear the yard, let it sleep closer to the crime, and hope it wakes you up when the thief appears. If you don’t have a dog, can you invite a friend or family member over to stay the night with their dog? With very little sign of a struggle, have you ruled out owls or other birds of prey?

 

[Xouie]

Solar powered motion sensor lights were my best friend when someone kept coming in my backyard at night and leaving the gate open. Scared the crap out of the neighbor kids who were sneaking in to look at the quail though.

 

[theoldchick]

Game cameras. You can put several in different spots. Put them high, put them low. I once caught a hay thief from the tag on the vehicle. Tracked them down and made them pay for the hay.

 

[Isadora]

I once caught a hay thief from the tag on the vehicle.

Wow, the gall of some people.

 

[45lk9p459gm-w]

If you don't want to mess with the law .... invest in some good fake cameras and place them where they can be seen but out of reach. Then put up little signs that say something like "Smile Your on Camera"

Some years back we had a small theft problem and it stopped over night once the signs went up. Our cameras are real and so is the 12ga that backs them up though.

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

Game cameras. You can put several in different spots. Put them high, put them low. I once caught a hay thief from the tag on the vehicle. Tracked them down and made them pay for the hay.

Thank you, I plan on doing this. Any suggestions on which company or camera?

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

Imo, you need to set up a camera facing the coop and one that gets a broad sweep of the yard, maybe set in an overlooking attic window, you need to lock all gates and put up no trespassing signs. Unless you secure the yard, a trespasser can invent a reason they entered, like I was looking for my friends dog and saw your fence open and thought it might have gone in there blah blah. You can’t call law enforcement until you know whether it’s human or animal predators. Search Craigslist and local for sale ads to try to see if they’re selling your chickens. People could be taking them because they don’t like you having them, they could be selling them for a quick buck, it could be terrible teenagers doing cruel things to them for fun, and you need to put a stop to whatever is happening.

If you are not allowed to have them, it puts you in a bind with law enforcement. You might do best to lock all animals up into the coop at night, try to use locks on all the gates and the coop, and choose locks that require someone to damage your property to bypass. It’s one thing to jump a fence, and another thing all together to destroy property, and/or break into a storage building on your land. Do you have a dog? Has it heard any ruckus? If your dog sleeps in a bedroom or somewhere it can’t really hear the yard, let it sleep closer to the crime, and hope it wakes you up when the thief appears. If you don’t have a dog, can you invite a friend or family member over to stay the night with their dog? With very little sign of a struggle, have you ruled out owls or other birds of prey?

Thank you for your help and suggestions. You have given me plenty of ideas as to what to do. As to your comment on having a dog out: I do have a dog, but I am a little scared to do this because she has killed ducks in the past. I will likely set up cameras and put my dog out at night because of this. Again, thanks for the help.

 

[McChooky]

Sorry but you never mentioned what kind of wire you use on your coop or what kind of latches are on it. Since your dog hasn't barked or acted unusual hopefully the camera will catch whatever it is meanwhile keep us posted!