UPDATED! Just feathers left.....

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Redhead Hen

Redhead Hen

Songster
10 Years
Apr 14, 2009
353
1
129
Rising Sun, Maryland
I went out to hang the wash and feed the chickens this morning and found a sad sight. I had 9 chickens in the coop/run yesterday and this morning I have 4.
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I can't find any tracks and all the predator left was feathers. No bodies or blood. I have been all around our property and there is no sign of my missing (certainly dead) chickens.
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Any clue as to what could have taken 5 chickens and only leaving feathers? I'm having a hard time with losing 5 birds at once. Two RIR pullets about 4 months old, 1 silkie roo about 6 months old, 1 Millie Fleur d'Uccle roo and 1 Golden Sebright both about 4 months old. The Silkie must have put up a good fight since his feathers are all over the place. (But no blood any where!) We are out in a pretty rural area with some small neighborhoods sprinkled here and there. So I'm sure there is a huge list of predators for our area.

Of course I will be closing the door on the coop every night now (once I add it! TODAY!). I never had this problem before and I have had chickens in that coop/run set up for 4 years. That's 4 years with NO predator problems. I'm stumped and of course angry with myself for not being more vigilant. I'm also not really getting over 5 being taken at once.
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I've lost four hens by the same predator I'm guessing (over different nights). Each time all that was left was a pile of feathers. I thought it was a raccoon at first, but after doing some research I think it was a fox or coyote, both of which live in my woodsy area. I'm going for the electric fence because this thing keeps coming back for more...
 
About a month ago same thing happned to us. 4 chicken missing and only feathers left. As I looked around I found a dog behind our greenhouse finishing one off. I didn't realize that a dog would eat everything!! It snowed that night and there was very little blood just a handfull of feathers from each hen. Poor girls:(

The dog jumped the fence and I never saw it again. I thought meybe it was wild, who knows.
 
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Thanks. We have coons, skunks and fox in the area. Although I have not seen a fox around here in about 2 years and no coons in my yard for at least 3 years. The skunk have been out and about all year though. Is it possible that a large skunk would have gotten in there and carried them off? We don't have anyone laying eggs so I am thinking it was not a skunk. Probably a fox. I will need help reinforcing the fencing on the run, so that will have to wait until the weekend when my husband can help me. I was able to put a door on the coop though. That will keep my girls locked up at night and keep the bad guys out!

We even had our windows open all night and never heard a thing. But I sleep like the dead! My husband did not hear anything this morning either. He gets up at 4 am and leaves for work around 5:30 or so. We had a dog up until last summer when he needed to be rehomed. That is probably why we did not have predators after our chickens in the past. Ugh .... live and learn.
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Just wanted to give an update. One of my RIR pullets just came wandering out of our garden! She is fine - just missing a few tail feathers. The crazy thing is I know I have been all over our yard a few times today looking for our missing birds. This search included the garden. I have no clue where she came from. Our property has brush on 3 sides, and it is pretty thick. I did find a trail of feathers leading into the thick brush but could not get back there. This pullet came from the opposite direction! I do understand that the others probably did not make it. Especially since there are a lot of white feathers around the run and into the brush that belonged to my silkie roo. But I think I will do another walk around later and see if anyone else comes out.
 
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We had a RIR pullet hide for 4 hours under my deck after a hawk swooped in. They just freeze up and stay hidden. Hope you find another one!
 
I'm sorry for your loss.

I know you've thought this same thing, but I'll say it anyway.

It only takes one time of leaving your coop door open at night to lose all your chickens.

Due to not many feathers, and no blood, I may guess an Owl
 

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