Without A Trace

[ladyeccowolf]

I'm just wondering, what kind of predator could have taken my favorite Jumbo Peking duckling and both of my juvenile Narragansett turkeys? We had them in a temporary pen that had a 4ft chicken wire fence 200ft long around a chicken coop. We were in the process of moving them from our nursery pen to the barn but we hadn't completed the remodeling on the barn yet, so we had to make a temp pen.
My favorite duckling (he had an pale pink bill) was missing one day. None of my chickens, their chicks, the turkeys, keets, nor the other ducklings were harmed. There was no damage to the fence and no sign of a struggle. Everyone seemed fine. We thought maybe he got out somehow. We searched for a week and could not find him. Then the following week, I woke up to find that both of my juvenile Narragansett turkeys were missing one morning. We found a small trail of feathers and a few had blood on the calamus, along with some skin attached. It was a small handful of feathers total. What predator could jump over the fence or fly into the pen and steal one duckling one week and then two turkeys the next week in one night leaving no damage to any structures and all my chickens and their chicks and the keets are all fine?! I can't believe we wouldn't have heard them make some noise. Their temp pen and coop is near our house. Your thoughts?

 

[redsoxs]

Sorry for your losses. My first thought would be coyote or fox. They usually snatch a bird, take it some distance to eat it, and then return every day or two for more.

 

[ladyeccowolf]

My husband and I live in Ohio so we get a fair amount of coyotes in the country. I'm just shocked that there was no damage to the fence, there was no sign of a struggle, and all of our Silkie chickens and their chicks were unharmed. Well, we've made improvements and have gotten our barn mostly done with the remodeling that we went ahead and moved them. So far they are happy and like their new larger surroundings.

 

[SuburbSpurs]

Hawk or bird of prey? If they got over a fence. They are quick and leave no trace, maybe a feather or too if you are lucky. Thats my bet.

 

[rrgrassi]

How tall is the fence? I had to make mine 8 feet tall. That stopped the coyotes. The coons climbed the fence and killed two of my birds. An electric fence at 4 feet stopped that issue.

 

[ladyeccowolf]

The temp pen was only 4ft, not tall enough, I know. Our barn has a large outside pen that is 6ft tall. That is where they all are now. I don't have electricity in our barn but I saw solar powered electric fences at Tractor Supply Company. Anybody have any experience with that?