What to do after a predator attack

ArtJuice

In the Brooder
Aug 10, 2024
29
46
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Five out of seven of my chickens were assumingly killed by a predator. One was killed weeks ago, THREE two days ago, and one overnight before I checked this afternoon.
I've got two left, who are probably obviously traumatized.
Apparently the predator got in through some openings that we promptly screwed shut BOTH times, as soon as we found out where they were getting in from.
I know others have definitely went through this before...what do I do now. I'm very upset. I don't know what to do with the remaining two chickens. I feel an immense amount of guilt for this even happening in the first place. It's my first flock.
 
Any idea as to the type of predator (aerial, ground, big small? Any paw prints or hair tufts?) Photos of your set up would help immensely as well. Main thing to do is make sure the entire set up is predator proofed against whatever did the damage, because it will be back.
 
If they free range, put them on lockdown for a week or two. Pictures of your setup will help. I do recommend an automatic coop door at night. They help a lot with nighttime predators like raccoons (assuming that is the only point of available entry into the coop). My flock was slaughtered in the middle of the night by one since I forgot to shut the door. The automatic coop door gives great peace of mind for when they free range.
 
Any idea as to the type of predator (aerial, ground, big small? Any paw prints or hair tufts?) Photos of your set up would help immensely as well. Main thing to do is make sure the entire set up is predator proofed against whatever did the damage, because it will be back.
I'm guessing a land animal because today I saw a long trail of Brahma feathers as well as a couple of chunks. Whatever it did it left trails of my chickens feathers.

It killed my remaining Australorp the other day by pulling out it's intestine for all to see and apparently eating it's egg and leaving the shell right next to it (I'm supposing unformed because the egg was white, and none of the chickens lay white eggs.), and left the corpse mostly untouched, right next to my coop in broad daylight. When I came back that night, roughly six hours later, the body was gone.

Our setup has chicken wire stapled around it and I assume the staples came loose over time and left gaping holes for predators to squeeze in. We've pinned the chicken wire back in place by putting screws in.
It's the small square kind, by the way
 
Our setup has chicken wire stapled around it and I assume the staples came loose over time and left gaping holes for predators to squeeze in. We've pinned the chicken wire back in place by putting screws in.
It's the small square kind, by the way
Really need to see photos of this please, and if possible the area(s) that was breached specifically. You're calling it chicken wire but it sounds like hardware cloth. Staples are NOT at all secure and the wire mesh either needs to be sandwiched under trim wood and then screwed down, or screwed down with the addition of fender washers.
 

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