What did this ? :-(

[jilla]

So sad, I have had my babies for 6 months and have never had a problem..... Until today . During the middle of the day I discovered my yard covered with feathers and my favorite chicken missing. I originally had 3 and the other two are fine. I have a 6 foot wood fence around my back yard and I could clearly see the trail of feathers went from the coop and up over the fence. No blood anywhere . I'm guessing fox or bobcat but not sure and what can I do to stop it from happening again? I have the other two girls locked in the coop but they are angry and want free range of the yard . Sad day ..........

 

[BantamLover21]

So sad, I have had my babies for 6 months and have never had a problem..... Until today . During the middle of the day I discovered my yard covered with feathers and my favorite chicken missing. I originally had 3 and the other two are fine. I have a 6 foot wood fence around my back yard and I could clearly see the trail of feathers went from the coop and up over the fence. No blood anywhere . I'm guessing fox or bobcat but not sure and what can I do to stop it from happening again? I have the other two girls locked in the coop but they are angry and want free range of the yard . Sad day ..........

I"m sorry for your loss.

It sounds like your birds were attacked by a fox. Do you think the fox/whatever it was climbed over the fence, or are there any holes/low spots around the fence's edge that the predator could have slipped through? Are there any signs that the creature dug beneath the fence? Foxes are very clever hunters, and if there is a way to get into a coop, then they will find it.

 

[katie1500]

Whenever chickens are free ranging it is a risk that something can happen. Around here hawks are horrible. So I have to keep mine in their runs and only let them out while I'm around. Sounds like yours could have been anything really, a cat even. (Opossums skunks and raccoons too) depending on what time of day this was. I know that all those can climb so those are most likely your culprits. At feed stores they carry a bunch of traps so you can plant a trap for the little bugger. Other than that locking the others up for a while would be the safe route. I am sorry for this trouble for you, it's always a pain

 

[jilla]

Thanks for your responses, I couldn't see any spots where it could of got under . It looks like it climbed it because the feathers were in the top of the fence too. I'm going to look in to getting a trap tomorrow. Do you call animal control to have them rerelease somewhere else ?

 

[enola]

Releasing an animal that you have trapped is illegal in most places.

 

[enola]

In SC DNR officers will come to your home and destroy predators that have been trapped.

 

[scooter147]

If you want to keep the remaining two a protected run has to be on the to do list.
If you trap it please do not re-release. Have it destroyed.
You don't want to release it and have it become someone else's problem plus "rehoming" animals is cruel to the animal.