What ate my chicken and what to do?

[patrickj]

two and half month old Cochens. Free range twelve hours a day. No issues until now. Sometime late
in the day I suspect before putting them to bed, something got one of the girls. This morning I found a big pile of feathers...nothing else. The feathers were all in one spot near a tree line except for about twenty feathers
about 20 yards away. Chickens have been very wary today staying mostly in the heavy trees, under the porch and quite cautious.

I am in Texas. I Hawk would just carry it away, yes? I have a couple dogs, but it's way hot and they don't stay out all day with them. Reading other posts, perhaps a live trap in order? Appreciate your ideas.

 

[MsBagawkbagawk]

Sounds like a fox or hawk (possibly coyote, probably no).

For a fox I would say live traps, but unfortunately there is no good way to keep a hawk at bay. You could try putting reflective sticks (like someone would put by their mailbox or by their driveway so it is visible at night) up around the chicken coop and where they tend to hang out a lot. I trained my free ranged chickens to stick around our house (on the opposite side of a hawk nest) and under trees, so that the hawk has a harder time getting to them. I also heard that a string of blank CDs strung up around the house works. Whenever I see a hawk or have an attack I keep my chickens in for a few days to a week and the hawk loses interest and does not look at my house as hunting grounds. I put up a plastic crow thing so that it was facing a nest and the hawks left immediately, I heard that they are terrified of crows, and I guess it worked.

Hope you don't have any more problems with them!

 

[cafarmgirl]

With feathers found in wooded area in multiple spots I would be strongly suspecting fox or coyote. Whatever it was, it will be back as soon as it's hungry again.