What could kill and eat 30 chickens in 1 night and not leave a single body.

[Welshies]

Not likely. If they were alive within 500ft of the other chickens, I would have heard them. plus they would have heard the remaining birds and came for dinner with the noise they make. Even the 2 little ones and that Momma have started to come back over here each day at dinner time, eat, then haul tail back over to the neighbor's. I guess she feels more secure over there with a couple of dogs, or she just hasn't forgot the Massacre yet. Christmas day while they were foraging and the pen door open, something came in and killed one that stayed behind. It left the body with puncture wounds on both side by the wings. Weird thing is it was too light, like it had been drained of blood. I don't think the Christmas killer and the Massacre killer are the same.

Why do you think people stole your birds?

 

[EggWalrus]

I think thats what happened, and the thieves left the door open not your ole lady.

Gary

With no more blood than I found, you may be right. The few feather piles could have been where a inexperienced chicken thief wound up with a couple of handful of feathers if some pecked him and got loose. If they didn't get them all, something could have got in where the door was left open and killed one before the remaining few escaped. I have a game cam but I let my brother borrow it months ago. I should have went and got it before this ever happened. I'll go get it this weekend. I guess there's just no way of knowing what happened that dreadful night/morning.

 

[Welshies]

With no more blood than I found, you may be right. The few feather piles could have been where a inexperienced chicken thief wound up with a couple of handful of feathers if some pecked him and got loose. If they didn't get them all, something could have got in where the door was left open and killed one before the remaining few escaped. I have a game cam but I let my brother borrow it months ago. I should have went and got it before this ever happened. I'll go get it this weekend. I guess there's just no way of knowing what happened that dreadful night/morning.

I think people would have left tracks and no blood... people are sloppy but would not leave blood. "Little sign" is a trademark of the fox, and the coyote, chicken eater.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

@Welshies ... Do you have dogs? Is your chicken coop near your home?

You say you have twenty acres. That's a lot of land. If someone were to take your entire flock in the middle of the night, it seems unlikely you'd see blood and feathers. Chickens are zombies when they're on the roost. I would imagine anyone could quite easily pick them up, one at a time, and tuck them inside a rucksack or pillow case without much of a fight from any of them.

And if they had the time to grab most of your large flock, then why leave a few behind?

Also, wouldn't it be hard for a car or truck to go unnoticed on your property? So, did they arrive by boat on the river and walk in just to grab your chickens? Someone a few months back posted a discussion about something very similar. They ended up seeing someone come back the next night and taking more chickens.

But in a very short amount of time, wildlife can remove your entire flock and hide them, with little to no evidence that they were there. That's what I feel happened, and a fox does seem like a likely candidate.

I've been thinking about this all day and feel just terrible for you and your wife. If my dogs hadn't needed a midnight outing a month or two ago, I wouldn't have discovered the chicken door I left open to their coop, and since we live in the woods and have lots of predators, they could have all been killed. It was truly an awful feeling.

There are some great discussions on hot wire. Lots of folks strongly urge others to wire their chicken runs. They offer all kinds of good information on what and what not to do. I may follow suit one of these days.

Thank you for starting this discussion. I've learned an awful lot. I'm just sorry it was at the expense of your precious chickens.

 

[Welshies]

@Welshies ... Do you have dogs? Is your chicken coop near your home?

You say you have twenty acres. That's a lot of land. If someone were to take your entire flock in the middle of the night, it seems unlikely you'd see blood and feathers. Chickens are zombies when they're on the roost. I would imagine anyone could quite easily pick them up, one at a time, and tuck them inside a rucksack or pillow case without much of a fight from any of them.

And if they had the time to grab most of your large flock, then why leave a few behind?

Also, wouldn't it be hard for a car or truck to go unnoticed on your property? So, did they arrive by boat on the river and walk in just to grab your chickens? Someone a few months back posted a discussion about something very similar. They ended up seeing someone come back the next night and taking more chickens.

But in a very short amount of time, wildlife can remove your entire flock and hide them, with little to no evidence that they were there. That's what I feel happened, and a fox does seem like a likely candidate.

I've been thinking about this all day and feel just terrible for you and your wife. If my dogs hadn't needed a midnight outing a month or two ago, I wouldn't have discovered the chicken door I left open to their coop, and since we live in the woods and have lots of predators, they could have all been killed. It was truly an awful feeling.

There are some great discussions on hot wire. Lots of folks strongly urge others to wire their chicken runs. They offer all kinds of good information on what and what not to do. I may follow suit one of these days.

Thank you for starting this discussion. I've learned an awful lot. I'm just sorry it was at the expense of your precious chickens.

Haha... you didn't take the OP

 

[Welshies]

@Welshies ... Do you have dogs? Is your chicken coop near your home?

You say you have twenty acres. That's a lot of land. If someone were to take your entire flock in the middle of the night, it seems unlikely you'd see blood and feathers. Chickens are zombies when they're on the roost. I would imagine anyone could quite easily pick them up, one at a time, and tuck them inside a rucksack or pillow case without much of a fight from any of them.

And if they had the time to grab most of your large flock, then why leave a few behind?

Also, wouldn't it be hard for a car or truck to go unnoticed on your property? So, did they arrive by boat on the river and walk in just to grab your chickens? Someone a few months back posted a discussion about something very similar. They ended up seeing someone come back the next night and taking more chickens.

But in a very short amount of time, wildlife can remove your entire flock and hide them, with little to no evidence that they were there. That's what I feel happened, and a fox does seem like a likely candidate.

I've been thinking about this all day and feel just terrible for you and your wife. If my dogs hadn't needed a midnight outing a month or two ago, I wouldn't have discovered the chicken door I left open to their coop, and since we live in the woods and have lots of predators, they could have all been killed. It was truly an awful feeling.

There are some great discussions on hot wire. Lots of folks strongly urge others to wire their chicken runs. They offer all kinds of good information on what and what not to do. I may follow suit one of these days.

Thank you for starting this discussion. I've learned an awful lot. I'm just sorry it was at the expense of your precious chickens.

But good points!

 

[Ravynscroft]

Ok. I'm back. Just went and talked to my nextdoor neighbor about 1000 yards away. I found 2 of the 2 month old leghorns and the Swamp Hen Momma(Shamo/Red Jungle Fowl mix) that I had to hatch and raise them. They were lucky and escaped the Great Massacre, but I think they were the only ones. He said he's had quite a few of his come up missing even through he has a couple of huge white herding dogs. Below is the skat with a ruler next to it, and broken up pics. It has died up and is about 30% smaller than when it was fresh. Another thing, the morning after the Massacre, the blood was fresh bright red and still wet. Only an hour later when I showed it to the little lady, it had become dark and dried. Didn't get anything in the trap cage last night. I've read coyotes won't go into cages hardly ever (unless they are disguised) so I may build a couple of snares. I hope the pics come out clear enough to zoom into. About to go get pics of the blood splatter. View attachment 1230818 View attachment 1230821 View attachment 1230820 View attachment 1230818 View attachment 1230819 View attachment 1230820 View attachment 1230821 View attachment 1230818 View attachment 1230819 View attachment 1230820 View attachment 1230821

That is coon scat... and I bet you have a mama with mostly grown juveniles... had 1 come through my place with 3 juvies... they can devastate a huge amount of birds with little to no trace...

Get DP traps, forget the havahart or cage type traps... they either won't go in them or they will destroy the trap and escape before you can check it...

 

[Welshies]

That is coon scat... and I bet you have a mama with mostly grown juveniles... had 1 come through my place with 3 juvies... they can devastate a huge amount of birds with little to no trace...

Get DP traps, forget the havahart or cage type traps... they either won't go in them or they will destroy the trap and escape before you can check it...

Not coon scat...
Coons would not kill 30 birds.
Fox or coyote scat

 

[Ravynscroft]

First hand experience with a family of coons here... and @EggWalrus doesn't live that far from my own area... with an open coop, yep, coons can devastate an entire flock... and survivors that scatter would be quick pickings for owls...

 

[EggWalrus]

@Welshies ... Do you have dogs? Is your chicken coop near your home?

You say you have twenty acres. That's a lot of land. If someone were to take your entire flock in the middle of the night, it seems unlikely you'd see blood and feathers. Chickens are zombies when they're on the roost. I would imagine anyone could quite easily pick them up, one at a time, and tuck them inside a rucksack or pillow case without much of a fight from any of them.

And if they had the time to grab most of your large flock, then why leave a few behind?

Also, wouldn't it be hard for a car or truck to go unnoticed on your property? So, did they arrive by boat on the river and walk in just to grab your chickens? Someone a few months back posted a discussion about something very similar. They ended up seeing someone come back the next night and taking more chickens.

But in a very short amount of time, wildlife can remove your entire flock and hide them, with little to no evidence that they were there. That's what I feel happened, and a fox does seem like a likely candidate.

I've been thinking about this all day and feel just terrible for you and your wife. If my dogs hadn't needed a midnight outing a month or two ago, I wouldn't have discovered the chicken door I left open to their coop, and since we live in the woods and have lots of predators, they could have all been killed. It was truly an awful feeling.

There are some great discussions on hot wire. Lots of folks strongly urge others to wire their chicken runs. They offer all kinds of good information on what and what not to do. I may follow suit one of these days.

Thank you for starting this discussion. I've learned an awful lot. I'm just sorry it was at the expense of your precious chickens.

I only cleared about 5-6 acres around the house. This property used to be one of 5 huge trailer parks that was made for soldiers going thru flight school and tank school and additional personnel at FtRucker back in WWII. It finally closed after the Great Flood of '90. After 25 years of growing wild, nature reclaimed just about this whole place. I had over 40 cement pads and gas, water, and electric hook ups just on this cleared area. My neighbor had 120 acres. The whole trailer park. And he sold me 20 where the House, Office, and an Olympic sized pool were. The pool had 50 ft tall pines growing in it, so I plan to make a storm shelter/root cellar and green house in it. One day. After I had cleared this part and started redoing the house , the house and office burned to the ground. I had kicked out a Meth head bum that was squatting in the house about 2 weeks before the fire. I think he may have burned it. But any way, the driveway is several hundred yards long and shaped like a "J". Where it comes on to the property over by the creek, it goes about100 yards then makes a 90° curve then heads to the the pool where the office was. The chicken pen and coop are just around the roadside of the curve. Some one could pull down the drive without going around the curve, back up to the chickens and we'd never see our hear them from inside. I told the Lil Lady we needed to build the chicken quarters closer to the house but she didn't want the smell or to be awoken by roosters all the time. Sorry if I got a little off topic, it's past my bedtime and time for this big chicken to go to roost.