- May 18, 2010
- 30
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In June, we woke up one morning to find all 5 of our 11 week old chickens dead. Something had gotten into the coop and broken their necks and just left them. No bite marks that we saw.
A week later, we got 8 Australorp chicks and some hardware cloth. They are now almost 8 weeks old. We moved them to the improved coop last night. They were fine when we got up this morning at 7. At 730, I heard them squawking, and ran outside. I didnt see anything, and they all seemed fine in their enclosed run. So I assumed an argument over who had the tastier weed. At 9, I took my daughter out to see them and we threw some more weeds into the run. They still were fine. At 11, my husband got home for lunch and told me "the back of the coop got broken into, 3 chickens are dead, 2 are missing and 3 are fine." We found the missing ones, they were hiding in the tall weeds in the back of the yard.
Whatever attacked them got in by knocking out a peice of wood that hadnt been screwed down. Which is a fairly impressive feat, we had that board woven in between other boards to the point it took both of us and a lot of effort to move it. But it managed to get the board out, creating a 3-4 inch hole. (My husband is screwing down that board as i type)
The 3 dead ones had no bleeding wounds. Some feathers were pulled out at the neck, and their necks were broken.
What is strong, nimble, doesnt eat its prey, and isnt picky if it is day or night?
There is a trailer park behind us, with the main road right next to our back fence. So it's not exactly quiet during the day....
A week later, we got 8 Australorp chicks and some hardware cloth. They are now almost 8 weeks old. We moved them to the improved coop last night. They were fine when we got up this morning at 7. At 730, I heard them squawking, and ran outside. I didnt see anything, and they all seemed fine in their enclosed run. So I assumed an argument over who had the tastier weed. At 9, I took my daughter out to see them and we threw some more weeds into the run. They still were fine. At 11, my husband got home for lunch and told me "the back of the coop got broken into, 3 chickens are dead, 2 are missing and 3 are fine." We found the missing ones, they were hiding in the tall weeds in the back of the yard.
Whatever attacked them got in by knocking out a peice of wood that hadnt been screwed down. Which is a fairly impressive feat, we had that board woven in between other boards to the point it took both of us and a lot of effort to move it. But it managed to get the board out, creating a 3-4 inch hole. (My husband is screwing down that board as i type)
The 3 dead ones had no bleeding wounds. Some feathers were pulled out at the neck, and their necks were broken.
What is strong, nimble, doesnt eat its prey, and isnt picky if it is day or night?
There is a trailer park behind us, with the main road right next to our back fence. So it's not exactly quiet during the day....
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