Thoughts on what killed my girls?

[LadyBug7]

Let me preface by saying we have had chickens for three years. They have 1.5 fenced acres on which to range. There's an empty grassland lot on one side and field on the other two. They are out sun up to sun down. We have never lost a bird. This week, we lost two- one on Sunday and one on Monday. Both happened during the daylight hours while we were away. The odd thing is, save one part of the wing missing/broken there was nothing eaten off them. The second one did have the neck sliced open also, but nothing else. We have two bichons and a cat, but they are afraid of the chickens and the girls stand up to them. I'm at a loss?? What kills just to kill?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Dogs.

 

[MairyMai]

I would agree on dogs. keep an eye out, hopefully they don't come back. I'm sorry about your girls

 

[LadyBug7]

Thank you. The only thing is, it's a fenced in yard. There's no way other dogs can get in. That's what makes it so frustrating.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What does your fence look like. Some dogs can jump or climb pretty high, and many will dig, or squeeze under. I would check you fence carefully. Every other critter would have taken their meal with them or eaten parts in place. Only dogs mangle and kill than leave a carcass to go home to a bowl of kibble.

 

[Windus]

Has to be a dog or a cat. If not one of yours, maybe a feral cat. Any real predator would have eaten them.

 

[microchick]

First off. Lock up your birds. The sooner the better and keep them either penned in a coop or penned in a secured run until you find out what is killing your birds. Unfortunately, whatever killed two is going to come back and kill again now that it knows where either the funny squeeky toys or the next meal is.

I have to agree that it sounds like a dog hit to me. Any predator (wild) will take off with it's meal ASAP. And yes, I've seen a smooth coat collie jump a 4 foot barbed wire fence without touching wire, so they are capable of jumping cleanly over a standard 48 inch fence.

If you can get your hands on a live trap like a Hav A Hart Trap, set it and see what you catch, or put up a game camera and find out what is coming around in your absence. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting your flock secured and under cover right now until you can deal with this predator, whatever it is. The fact that you loss two birds on two separate days says that whatever it is it is coming back.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your birds. It's incredibly painful to take care of your animals, feed them, house them, nurture them then have something invade your property and harm them.

I hope you get to the bottom of what happened to your birds.

 

[twilightgecko]

am i the only one that thinks hawk? hawks grab them by the back and try to peck/bite their necks.. if they are too big and can't carry them off, they can kill it and perhaps be startled and fly off.. just an idea.. i lost a barred rock last week, [literally not a feather in sight, just GONE] but also found a barred rock with deep wounds to her neck/shoulder.. so bad i had to put her down.. [sniff] dogs usually usually leave a feather trail, as it's a chase and play thing with them.. hmm

 

[microchick]

Could be. Hawks around here will sit with their prey and pull feathers out. We find perfect circles of feathers with absolutely no blood or body in the center when hawks take out ducks during migration season. I've also heard of hawk attacks that the birds servive and they have lacerations on their backs where the hawks have tried to grab them from above so the neck wound does sound possibly like it was inflicted when a hawk possibly grabbed and missed.

But don't you think that even a hawk would try to carry off it's prey...as long as the prey wasn't bigger than they are.

 

[dmanhefner]

If nothing was damaged but a wing that sounds like a dog. Could also be a weasel. Probably dogs though. Walk your fence and look for hair, somewhere to dig under, climb over, or squeeze through a corner. Look for indication of anything on the field side that looks like a trail. If this was a dog it got past your fence somehow, they don't need a big gap.