What carries off chickens, one at a time, and leaves no evidence?

[OldGuy43]

...or a foxy neighbor.

 

[desertdarlene]

I was going to say fox, too. But, it could be anything. I agree with the person who said to lock them up for a wile and put traps out to see what you get.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

In my case it was a pair of nesting eagles. Flew off with full grown Orpingtons. Not much you can do in this case as they are super protected. Hope they go somewhere else next year. I don't free range any more. But they usually hit around noon. Bob cat in the area hits in the early am or dusk.

 

[Kev]

In my case for adults, it was bobcats.

Small/not fully growns or bantams: hawks. Hawk carcasses have bones intact, with very stringy bits of flesh attached to bones, if you happen to find one away from the yard. look under trees.

Bobcat carcasses were so expertly covered up, half of them were located only by scent & fly activity a couple days later. They made very clean cuts on the flesh and bones.

To Leggin in Yucca Valley- have friends in 29 Palms, they have VERY frequent encounters with bobcats.. last week a cougar! I would guess bobcats in your case as they seem so common in the general area.

 

[toripeeps]

Lost a plymouth rock hen Monday night at dusk and a little bantam Hen last night, my little Rosie was the only bantam hen I had. Raised them all from day old peeps. Really depressed but we are not going to let them out of their run for a while and cut off the predators food supply hoping that it will go elsewhere. Neighbor said it probable is a fox waiting for them at the coop. The thing is my husband was out by the coop cleaning it from the time he let them out and didn't see or hear anything. Real sneaky.

 

[centrarchid]

Red fox would be first guess. For me, whether they are targeting chickens or not, the seem to be pretty consistent with respect to time of day when they come through. I was able to sit and waite and even new what direction it would come from. The fox also seems able to catch a bird with minimal disturbance to rest of flock.

Dog bigger than fox is best cure. Otherwise getting fox yourself or penning birds up will be options.

 

[Sjisty]

In my case it was a fox. It took 7 chickens including a Jersey Giant roo in broad daylight without a sound. I just happened to be in the yard one day and saw it, or I would never had believed it.

 

[JellyBeanCee]

Human?

 

[toripeeps]

Well, it wasn't anything from the yard that got my chickens, I lost 2 more yesterday from inside their pen. Thought that if we kept them inside their run and coop the predator would go away, but little did we know that something had dug under the back wall and came up under the coop in to the "predaor safe" pen. My husband found one of my hens feet sticking out from under the coop and when he pulled her out she was beheaded and my little "Goldie" bantam rooster was not to be found anywhere. He covered the back wall at the base with the wire screen we used on the rest of the coop and pen and also put wire on the front wall of the coop inside the pen. We had no idea we were in fact helping the predator by keeping them in their run. The guilt I feel at our carelessness is huge. What could this have been? A Weasel? any ideas?

 

[desertdarlene]

I still think it was a fox, they can dig and squeeze under fences pretty easily. I wound't say that penning them up caused them more harm. You may have to put some hardware cloth around the bottom. Many people here can help you with that. Also, is your pen covered? Do you have an actual coop that you can out them in that would be secured?