All my birds are free range except for a few of my show birds. I have never had a problem with predators except for my neighbors rotweiler last summer, but I moved to a new location for more room. So anyway, I have noticed a lot of my birds just disappering, no feathers or anything. I had 12 chicks about 8 weeks old, I put them outside and they started to venture out on their own, they were fine for weeks and weeks, I always counted them and made sure they were all in the barn before I locked them up, so one morning I go out there and discover there are only 4 chicks, I figure maybe the others are just in the woods and they'll be back, but they never did. 2 weeks go by and another one is missing so now I'm down to 3 chicks left. No feathers or any other evidence of something grabbing them, I don't have a problem with hawks because my blue heeler pretty much keeps them away and she also sleeps outside or in the barn for protection to the chickens and sheep. Another killing that happened that I just cannot figure out is when I found one of my favorite hens with half of her head missing, looked like a perfect cut right down the middle. No feathers around and the rest of body and the other side of her head weren't touched she was just laying there dead. I thought maybe someone had shot her but I was outside one minute watching her strut her stuff, I go inside for about an hour and she's dead. I didn't hear any gun shots and the dogs weren't barking. I went inside to get the camera to take pictures of it, so maybe people could figure out what happened, but when I went back outside her body was gone, weird huh? I also have a Buff Laced Polish Rooster that went missing one, he's was my best one too. Sometimes at night he would roost high up in a tree and I never really had to worry about him, he was always there the next morning and if something did try to get him he would just fly down into the dog kennel below and run inside with the dogs, he was a smart little guy. Well I come out the next morning and he can't be found, I walk in the woods a little and see a few of his feathers, so I knew he was gone. Now my question is what is taking my birds, sometimes right in the day light, and how can 8 chicks just up and disappear all at once. Any ideas?
