Whole Flock — Dead! No Blood, Some Still Suffering; Could It Be Poison

[Duck/GooseCRAZY]

Quote:
to answer this question....YES, fox and coyotes do hunt when its overcast or raining. It has happened to us.

 

[Uppity Peon]

Foxes will hunt during the day especially if there are kits in the den. But they would carry the entire chicken away and not leave dead ones lying around. They might kill an entire flock in one or two days, but they would carry the prey off and eat it or bury it.

I'm so sorry you are going through this tragedy! Please do what you can to determine the cause of death, so that you hopefully don't have it happen again.

 

[purpletree23]

I'm so sorry that you lost your chickens. I do want to commend you for being so brave and selfless to make sure they didn't suffer. I hope you find out what happened.

Regarding the waterer getting dirty. I have a long walk out to the coop also but I found a solution that might work for you. I have 2 waterers. This way on my way out to the coop I can fill a clean one and when I come back to the house I bring the dirty one with me. I keep dish soap and a sponge near the water faucet and it doesn't take a lot of time to clean them if they aren't all slimy and gross. I let it air dry and repeat the next day. It also save me time in the winter from chipping ice. I bring the frozen one back and leave a fresh one. Maybe you will find that this works for you.

Again I'm sorry. Take care of yourself.

 

[mmtillman]

so sorry for your loss...

 

[htollvr]

Thank you again, everyone, for your outpouring of support. It has really helped me. I really like the idea of the two waterers, taking a fresh one up each time. Something so simple could have prevented such a tragedy. All we have been given is in our stewardship, but as I have been reminded here and elsewhere, we do all that we know to do at the time, then find peace that we are judged on faith, not on works, by one who understands all things perfectly and who loves us most. You've been a wonderful encouragement to me. Thank you.

 

[deerman]

Yes that a dog attack, had them kill over 20 in less than a hour. nothing eaten, just dead chicken everywhere.

 

[htollvr]

I don't know if anyone is following this anymore, but I bought three new Coshen chicks and two new Buff Brahmas. The chicks are in a cage on the back porch and the two Buffs were in the chicken house. I changed the water every day. I went up this morning and one was dead and the other was missing. At this point, I have to completely revise my assessment from earlier and say that I do, in fact, have an animal getting to my flock.

The Buffs were adolescents, so they were the size of full-grown chickens. The one that I found was in the chicken house, no visible blood, but I did check the feathers and there is some evidence of possible bites on the rear end. Broken feathers and some skin breakage, but I've only had them a few days so I don't know them well.

What's strange is that where the skin is broken, there are tiny worms like maggots, but smaller. This chick was acting fine yesterday, and his wings are movable and his head floppy, as if he died recently. Can worms show up that quickly? Within hours?

Needless to say, the little Coshens are not leaving the cage on the porch.

 

[htollvr]

I don't know if anyone is following this anymore, but I bought three new Coshen chicks and two new Buff Brahmas. The chicks are in a cage on the back porch and the two Buffs were in the chicken house. I changed the water every day.

I went up this morning, as I have every day, and one was dead and the other was missing. At this point, I have to completely revise my assessment from earlier and say that I do, in fact, have an animal getting to my flock. Maybe.

The Buffs were adolescents, so they were the size of full-grown chickens. The one that I found was in the chicken house, no visible blood, but I did check the feathers and there is some evidence of possible bites on the rear end. Broken feathers and some skin breakage, but I've only had them a few days so I don't know them well.

What's odd is that, where I saw broken skin, I saw maggots. Or what looked like very tiny, skinny ones. The head on the chick was still floppy and the wings easily movable, as if he had just died. If that's the case, how could there be worms so quickly? I cannot find the female of the pair.

I'm about to give up on chickens. For this to be my first experience is pretty awful. I can't believe this is so hard.

 

[Judy]

I agree, sounds like a predator. Yes, bugs can show up in wounds pretty quickly.

Guess you'll have to find a way to identify the culprit -- camera, traps, baby monitor, whatever. Some just sit up with a gun.

 

[CMV]

In high summer maggots show up pretty quickly. Rigor mortis usually takes 3 hours to show up, at 12 hours it reaches its peak and then it dissipates after 72 hours. So, do you believe your chicken died within 3 hours of you discovering it?

I'm sorry about your new chickens, but don't give up, yet. Check your coop from top to bottom to see if something can get in somewhere. Any holes bigger than an inch can let in rats, mice, minks and weasels. Cover them with hardware cloth. Check your run for signs of breaches and also look for any sources of toxin. Try to locate your missing chicken. If it was spooked during an attack it could be hunkered down somewhere and may be hard to locate for a while. If you have deep bedding in the coop, rake through it and see if the bird was killed and buried. Check the run for signs of fresh digging. Certain animals will bury their prey that they cannot eat on the spot- minks, come to mind.

Look for tracks. Maybe spread some flour around your coop and run after the birds go in for the night to see what's walking around at night. If you have trap and don't mind using it then bait and set it out. See if anything trips it or gets caught.

You WILL figure out what is happening. It just may take some time. Good luck.