we lost 25 today/ last night

[CAjerseychick]

it was racoons, judging by the scat that they left behind... How they got in I HAVE NO IDEA.... i guess i'll have to get more and start over now... just comb over every inch until i find the weak spot...poor girls

So sorry for your loss-- we were heartbroken to just lose 2 (out of 6)...
Just curious-- do you have any dogs? Just wondering if having dogs around helps to deter Big Things like Raccoons (ours are inside at night but they go out on the back porch and bark at things that go Bump in the night)....

 

[Harley Demag]

we don't but we should as our coop is not right next to our home... its a little jaunt down into the field. which I feel a bit guilty about now after the "masacre".

 

[liz9910]

Hi, sorry for your loss

Elizabeth

 

[Blessedchickens]

we don't but we should as our coop is not right next to our home... its a little jaunt down into the field. which I feel a bit guilty about now after the "masacre".

Wish we were closer, I would say come get one of our Great Pyrenees mix pups. Daddy lives in the barn and we have never had a problem (so far, in th almost two years we have lived here) with anything but rat snakes. Then he barks his head off. We turn them out and they can get on all sides of the coop. During the day he is out with them when they free range. Mom is in the backyard right now to patrol that, as chickens come up over the fence.

 

[Harley Demag]

Time to start fresh. We just ordered a mixture of pullets today! Hatcheries choice... Hopefully the give us an itemized list of the chicks we are getting. I am just so excited to see what kind of little babies we are getting! We will get the coop squared away Asap. As sad and heartbroken as i was and am for my Golden Sex Links. I am not going to let those darn racoons stop me from having my girls. Thanks for all your condolences and your help! I'll send pictures as soon as we get them!

Elizabeth

 

[sumi]

Hope things go well for you with the next lot.

And don't beat yourself up. A mongoose got into my chick pen a few months ago, in broad daylight. My DH was home, the chick pen was a few metres away from the open back door. We lost 5 young chickens. He didn't hear a thing. I agree with some of the above posts though, a dog may be a good deterrent.

 

[ButchGood]

Yup, It was probably a weasel. They will kill for sport as well as food. They will kill an entire hen house in a night.

 

[CAjerseychick]

Yup, It was probably a weasel. They will kill for sport as well as food. They will kill an entire hen house in a night.

I am getting a little nervous too-- I have been finding dead but not eaten things like rats, a bitten in half lizard, a dead momma squiirel (no visible wounds just dead), and today I found remains of a dead rabbit (too decomposed to tell how it died) -- my dogs arent great hunters and in at night and I havent heard any howling (no coyotes) so I am really wondering what it could be-- I have 10 day old chicks that will be going out into the coop in a few weeks.... Maybe I will check out the predator page too...

 

[Galinhas]

In our country (Azores,Portugal) we use to add to the chicken pen a duck. Don't know why but these pens with a duck never get attacked. Before I knew this we lost 13 pullets to a predator. To discover the pen empty and then some of the animals half eaten of bitten in the neck..... was terrible.

 

[Harley Demag]

a duck... i actually thought about putting in a duck or a goose.. they are a bit more intimidating to predators maybe? or they warn ahead of time of danger?