Unknown Predator...HELP!

[dwegz]

Hi There...need some help.

Last Tuesday night I wasn't feeling well and accidentally left the tractor door open. I lost Sophia, my son's BO, to something that left only feathers. Down to 1 Hen, Blache the BA.

Fast Forward to this Wednesday, after school sent my son out to let Blanche roam the backyard until bedtime. All I heard was bloody murder screaming and sobbing...my 11 year old ran back in the house "BLANCHE IS DEAD." I walked out thinking she was sick and just keeled over (although she was fine on Tuesday). She was safe and in bed the night before, my husband put her up in the nest box/roost area when he put her in at sundown. I have an A-frame tractor, fenced bottom (garden fence 2x3ish rectangles of coated wire) with roost and nest boxes enclosed on top. In the spring and summer I leave the ramp down at night for air, have done it for 2 years with NO problems so the girls always wake up in the morning and let themselves out...probably pretty early.

Here is where it gets weird. Blanche was in the bottom (fenced) part of the tractor, doors closed, missing her head and her body was pulled up against the fence and was half eaten. Breast meat gone, one leg that was sticking out the fencing was stripped clean of meat, down to the bone but foot still intact. Feathers all over the place. Found her comb, but no head or beak, at the front of the coop while her body was at the opposite end. Whatever ate her had to push its head through the fence, there are a couple of rectangles that are a little bent but the fencing was not terribly mangled. NO BLOOD. NONE...not a drop anywhere... (I took a picture which might be kind of weird but I was so perplexed.)

WHAT THE HECK ATE MY CHICKEN????

After a little more investigation tonight there look to be a few smallish claw marks, but nothing major, on the board at the bottom of the area that I found her body.

I hope someone has an idea...I am bummed. I know we have racoons, opossum, and feral cats in the hood, but we have been safe and secure for 2 years...ugh...time to step up and build a chicken fortress.

On the bright side we have 2 chicks in the bathroom brooder. We keep the little tote brooder in the bathroom. LOL
Not sure what type...so far they are looking hen-ish. One of the elementary schools in our district hatched them. I think they will be 2 weeks in a couple days, give or take a day. They are feathering out nicely, straight tail feathers, great and full wings, starting to get feathers just above the wings. One is a pale lemony yellow color and the other peachy. Feathers coming out are true to their chick fuzz.

Hope someone has ideas and hope everyone else is having better chicken luck than the Wegz family.

dwegz

 

[6Amigos]

Hi there.
as you said you have racoons. This could be a possiblity, but also it could have been a coyote. but not 100% sure. I don't think anyone could be in your situation. But to solve this problem if it continues, you can put an electric wire around your fence. This is what I have around my fence and I have had no problems with coyotes, racoons, and bears. (so far). The electric wire will probably solve this because once the animal gets zapped it most likely wont be coming back, unless it wants another zap..

Hope this helps.

 

[Gallus Sapien]

Sounds like coon

 

[dwegz]

I figured that it might be a raccoon but...the problem is that I don't think a raccoon could fit its head through the fence. *still perplexed*

 

[mmktdox]

So sorry that your son had to be the one to find Blanche! It's so upsetting to lose them to predators like that. I'll bet my eye teeth that it was a coon. I had the same thing happen last year except the **** coon(s) ate or injured five chickens in one night. They don't have to fit their whole head through the fencing, just their snout and their little front paws and they're good to go. The carcass of one of my chickens was jammed between the fencing and a post so tightly I could barely pry it out of there. Wrap that area in hardware cloth as quickly as you can otherwise they will come back. Now that they've had a taste you can be sure they'll return!

 

[akashia26]

coon, they will reach through and pull a bird through the wire in pieces.

 

[Shireshome]

Classic coon attack! They pull the unsuspecting chicken right through the fence, as much as will fit anyway, and then they eat all they can get. It is very typical for you to go long stretches, even years before an actual attack takes place. There is usually some driving force, like too many coons being born last year and not enough food this year that originally causes the first attack. Once they start though, you won't stop them. I would go over every inch of my run and coup to make sure it is coon proof, that means the fencing must be too small for a coon hand to fit through and making sure it is secured with good fasteners since they are also good at pulling fences apart! Good luck and sorry for your loss.

 

[akashia26]

invest in a good live trap and sardines. that will semi-perminate fix to the problem. set the trap and leave it set until you go at least a week between catches.

 

[locke2121]

Yeah...coons have some of the most prehensile paws in the animal kindom..almost like a human hand. They'll pull the chick through the wire bit by bit.

 

[rikithemonk]

I figured that it might be a raccoon but...the problem is that I don't think a raccoon could fit its head through the fence. *still perplexed*

It didn't get into the fenced run. It grabbed the chicken and pulled her through it and ate what it could reach and left. Raccoons are smart. If you trap it you will have to kill it. If you trap it and release it, no one in future will be able catch it in a trap. It will be a nightmare for them to deal with.

Riki