What animal is able to grab and..

[Chickenheadmate]

Try to pull through wire? Lost my Isbar a couple hours ago, 4am-ish, and am now wondering what tried to pull her though
Could it have been a skunk or possum?
Not sure how the roo got a bloody comb, neither. It's not cold enough for frostbite.

 

[Suzi18]

Raccoons will reach through chicken wire or kennel fencing or anything big enough to put their arm through and can do terrible damage or even kill a chicken. Hardware cloth is best that way the openings are too small for anything to get through. Chicken wire will only keep chickens in.......it wont keep predators out

 

[FarmBoy25]

Raccoons will reach through chicken wire or kennel fencing or anything big enough to put their arm through and can do terrible damage or even kill a chicken. Hardware cloth is best that way the openings are too small for anything to get through. Chicken wire will only keep chickens in.......it wont keep predators out

I agree with everything said.

 

[TomZilla43]

I'm very sorry for your loss, I see you're in TX, do you have raccoons in your neck of the woods? Like the earlier poster said they are very good with their little paws at reaching through fencing and grabbing. Their dexterity is really quite amazing, I would definitely look at running hardware cloth around the lower part of your coop to prevent further loss. Another fairly effective deterrent is to run a couple of lines of electric fencing around your coop/run area.

 

[Trish1974]

Agree with all the above.

 

[Howard E]

Your varmint was most likely a coon.........

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coons-believe-it.1170361/

On some of the now missing videos in that thread, those were some youtube saw fit to purge, as they depicted the killing of animals. Too bad......the how to video on setting up a bunch of dog proofs in a cluster for a mass trapping effort was one of the best ever produced.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

I am so sorry for the loss of your sweet hen! Bear hugs!

It sounds like the doings of a raccoon. Good luck with keeping your flock safe. It will return!!!

 

[Chickenheadmate]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Chickenheadmate]

I'm sure we have some in there somewhere. That's across my house.

I'm very sorry for your loss, I see you're in TX, do you have raccoons in your neck of the woods? Like the earlier poster said they are very good with their little paws at reaching through fencing and grabbing. Their dexterity is really quite amazing, I would definitely look at running hardware cloth around the lower part of your coop to prevent further loss. Another fairly effective deterrent is to run a couple of lines of electric fencing around your coop/run area.