Tclloyd0812
Crowing
I have a friend that lives near us (we will call him "Bob") that is a really sweet old man, he knows a lot about chickens and has taught us things we didn't know as well as helping us get started in breeding chickens when we moved up here. Although "Bob" is good with chickens, he isn't on BYC and isn't very tech savvy, so I figured I'd get some advice on here from others. I do not have any pictures of his chickens only stories of what he has told me recently about his chickens.
When "Bob" came by our house the other day to pick up some polish chicks, he told me he was down to about 10 to 15 hens out of about at least 100, he says for some reason (jokingly) the predator only takes his hens and not roosters. Apparently the predator also leaves his quail, turkeys, and guineas alone too. He said whatever the predator(s) is likes to bite the hens on the butt and has ripped a few of their rear ends off before they died. He has put traps out, caught a possum a few weeks ago but that was it. He sets the traps every night but has been unsuccessful every night. He has a decent coop I guess but something seems to be getting in there of course, but he is in his 70s and just had a heart stint put in and can't be doing a lot of physical activity such as repairing his coop. (We've offered help but he is super old fashioned so he feels that it's his responsibility and kindly declines our help).
His coop is inside of a chain linked fence/run that is about 6ft tall and covered all over (has poultry wire on the top), so something would either be crawling over or going under (he probably wouldn't notice since he isn't able to bend over and walk around much). The coop is just a room with a sheet metal roof. It isn't bad, but doesn't really have a solid door or anything, it's just relying mainly on the chain link.
Anyways, he said one night him and his wife heard some commotion out in the coop, his wife went out to check on the chickens and she saw a hen out in the field that had been attacked on the rear end. Before aiding the chicken she decided to look around the coop and the tall grass because she had heard scurrying and moving around. She didn't see a predator but apparently when she turned back towards the hen that had been attacked, it was GONE!!! Now, that's something I have never heard of, and they aren't people to make up stories. I hate that they are experiencing this, especially with his health problems, age, and not to mention some of his family he takes care of now has covid and he has been taking care of them too.
We live in North Central Arkansas in the country (not a neighborhood), if that helps give any ideas on a predator. He claims he doesn't think its coons or possums since he only caught one possum and none of the traps he sets have caught anything for a few weeks now. I know it could be anything, and they aren't my chickens, I am just trying to help figure out what it is so we can help him prevent this from happening again.
When "Bob" came by our house the other day to pick up some polish chicks, he told me he was down to about 10 to 15 hens out of about at least 100, he says for some reason (jokingly) the predator only takes his hens and not roosters. Apparently the predator also leaves his quail, turkeys, and guineas alone too. He said whatever the predator(s) is likes to bite the hens on the butt and has ripped a few of their rear ends off before they died. He has put traps out, caught a possum a few weeks ago but that was it. He sets the traps every night but has been unsuccessful every night. He has a decent coop I guess but something seems to be getting in there of course, but he is in his 70s and just had a heart stint put in and can't be doing a lot of physical activity such as repairing his coop. (We've offered help but he is super old fashioned so he feels that it's his responsibility and kindly declines our help).
His coop is inside of a chain linked fence/run that is about 6ft tall and covered all over (has poultry wire on the top), so something would either be crawling over or going under (he probably wouldn't notice since he isn't able to bend over and walk around much). The coop is just a room with a sheet metal roof. It isn't bad, but doesn't really have a solid door or anything, it's just relying mainly on the chain link.
Anyways, he said one night him and his wife heard some commotion out in the coop, his wife went out to check on the chickens and she saw a hen out in the field that had been attacked on the rear end. Before aiding the chicken she decided to look around the coop and the tall grass because she had heard scurrying and moving around. She didn't see a predator but apparently when she turned back towards the hen that had been attacked, it was GONE!!! Now, that's something I have never heard of, and they aren't people to make up stories. I hate that they are experiencing this, especially with his health problems, age, and not to mention some of his family he takes care of now has covid and he has been taking care of them too.
We live in North Central Arkansas in the country (not a neighborhood), if that helps give any ideas on a predator. He claims he doesn't think its coons or possums since he only caught one possum and none of the traps he sets have caught anything for a few weeks now. I know it could be anything, and they aren't my chickens, I am just trying to help figure out what it is so we can help him prevent this from happening again.
