What did this?

[Charm1704]

I live up in the middle of the woods on 28 acres, I have 17 pens of chickens......I have coons, opossum, coyotes, & fox.....I have 3 large dogs that do not bother my chickens and I believe it helps...but I keep a radio on the talk station 24/ 7...The wild animals do not walk up to people talking...I am a true believer in the Radio ....give it a try...my big Boom Box is inside a plastic trash sac so if it rains it will not ruin it...I am sorry for your loss...~Charm1704

 

[lorihadams]

Well, we left the carcasses in the tractor for the next 4 days and nothing came back. The thing that doesn't add up for me is that there were SEVEN chickens missing. No blood, no parts or pieces, nothing partially eaten, no feathers anywhere and black hairs on the chicken wire up at the top that had been pulled down. I can't see a raccoon taking off 7 whole 5-7 lb chickens at one time. These were about 3 weeks from slaughtering. They were good sized birds.

Talked to a buddy of ours that is an avid predator hunter and he thinks it could have actually been a small group of juvenile coyotes working together. Big enough to be away from mama but still small enough to hunt together as a pack...like 25lb coyotes.

Hubby and I are going to tear down and rebuild a new tractor with a section in it that is solid with a door on the inside of the pen. That way I can still move them to fresh grass but if anything gets in the wire section they have a solid structure to deal with. I am just sick over it. Between the feed already bought and the cost of the birds we are out $140. We had just bought 2 new bags of feed so we will store it in the barn until the spring when we can get a new batch after the tractor is redone. 2 years of using this tractor and we have had no losses and all of a sudden this year we have lost 2 batches of birds. The first I am convinced was my neighbor's dog. This one could have been him as well but I just don't know for sure. Gotta invest in a trail cam.