- Jun 15, 2008
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Well several of my quail were getting killed in their pen in the coop right before we closed the coop at dark. Aside from the first 3 several days ago that were partially decapitated and pulled through the bars the rest had not a mark on them. I thought they'd been poisoned at first but there was nothing that could have caused it. Thinking the cat I saw wandering about was stressing them I moved the quail inside last night. My chickens had been unharmed so far. The coop got opened at 8am and at noon I was getting in my car to leave when I saw 2 of the younger chickens that weren't really old enough to want to leave the coop yet go scattering across the yard to hide in the other building. I walked out there and found them all crammed up on the sides of the coop with 1 very large standard dead and 1 bantam EE dead. Not a mark on them. Nothing in sight. I found the 2 young chickens and put them back then closed the coop. Came back 2 hours later and found one of my standard EE. My remaining 2 standard hens and roo are missing but they have a tendency to just go to ground in the tall grass of the nearby field and not return until evening when something spooks them.
So what comes out in daylight, leaves no marks, can kill a standard (she did have a bad leg), cannot get the chickens up on the walls of the coop at least not easily, weighs less than about 20lbs which is the point at which my quail pen top would probably collaspe (I didn't build it for long term, only to hold coturnix for a few weeks until butcher), kills several birds without eating them, dissapears within seconds of the house door 300' away opening, and lives in eastern Iowa? Currently I'm thinking the feral cat that's wandering around but to kill a standard even if it can't get around as well and was cornered in a nest box seems a bit beyond a cat.
So what comes out in daylight, leaves no marks, can kill a standard (she did have a bad leg), cannot get the chickens up on the walls of the coop at least not easily, weighs less than about 20lbs which is the point at which my quail pen top would probably collaspe (I didn't build it for long term, only to hold coturnix for a few weeks until butcher), kills several birds without eating them, dissapears within seconds of the house door 300' away opening, and lives in eastern Iowa? Currently I'm thinking the feral cat that's wandering around but to kill a standard even if it can't get around as well and was cornered in a nest box seems a bit beyond a cat.
