Without a trace....

[chicknmania]

A sad ending to this story...Little Brat came back once more. She was only around for a half day or so; was taking a dust bath in a favorite hole they have. My daughter heard the chickens rioting and saw a cat running away with Brat. Her feathers were all around the dusting hole. We still have no idea where she'd been going, but it'd be hard to believe she was going off by herself all those times.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Darned cat!!!
I betcha she had a nest somewheres and was coming back for food.

 

[chicknmania]

That's what we were wondering, too. This is apparently a feral cat; rained last night and my son left his windows down in his car; the cat jumped out of the car this morning when he came out; it'd been sheltering from the rain. We think it may've been responsible for the dissapearance of the others, as well. We may try a live trap; if we set it up in the car, it might work! We like our farmer neighbor but he is ignorant when it comes to cat birth control; feral cats are everywhere. It's sad.

 

[Agilityscots]

Hi Chicknmania,

I'm in central Ohio too, in Galloway (on the far west side of Columbus, out in the country outside of 270). Where are you located? I'm so sorry to hear about Brat and your other chickens going missing. Please let us know if you find out what caused this...I'm especially interested since we're in the same general area and my chicks are not yet outside. I'm not sure how it's going to go once we put them out there...I'm worried about predators.

Amy

 

[chicknmania]

Hi Amy

I'm in Licking County/ Johnstown area (a pretty good drive from you!) I've been to Galloway once or twice. We really think the mysterious dissapearances are this cat (or cats)...if you live in farm country you're bound to have em and, as I said, our farmer neighbor doesn't care much about how many kittens his cats have. We've had chickens for two years, and the first year we had very little problems with predators; what problems we did have were almost all in the barn when they were roosting or on the nest box. We've had one casualty from a hawk, two or three from possums, 4 or 5 from skunks, 3 or 4 from weasels, 1 from a dog (ours, when we first got chickens), and about 12 - 15 from coons, 1 known from the cat, as well as 4 or 5 MIA's. I think the best thing to do is get a good rooster or two; it's interesing watching them trying to watch out for the flock and they usually do a pretty good job outside. And we only had two or three coons that did all that damage, and that was this year; we think we accidentally attracted them to the barn cause we had buried a couple of chickens who died from being ill, too close to the barn, and the critters discovered em and dug them up. We had a fox living by our pond and raising her kits in a den there for many years; but we never saw her near our chickens; she did a good job of keeping the Canada Geese out of our pond, though!

 

[birdlover]

I'm so sorry about your chickens, chicknmania.

I've lost some to hawks and to foxes. I know I lost one to a hawk who carried off the pullet without leaving any feathers. And I lost one to a fox that left no feathers. But, with all the others, there were feathers all over the ground where they'd been caught. So who knows? I do know that my chickens act a lot differently when a hawk's been around than when it's a fox. With a hawk, they all dive for cover and don't come out for a long long time. With the fox, they just go on about their business. Hope you don't lose anymore and that you catch that feral cat(s)! Maybe you'd do better with standard size chickens??

Ellen

 

[chicknmania]

Yeah, that''s mostly what we have is the standard size, actually. We only have two small ones left that run loose. Little Brat was an escapee; so was her sister, Sandy; who'se still among the living. We got them for our little banty roo as he had no one, and they both escaped from his pen.

 

[chicknmania]

Another note about the predator thing, though, and this IS amazing...last night we were all exhausted, and simply forgot to close the barn; something we NEVER do! I had to work during the night, and left around 2:00AM. I freaked when I saw the barn wide open and Fuego our little banty roo still outside in his flimsy tractor. We rushed to see what damage was done, and were amazed to find all present and accounted for, totally calm (sleeping), and no predators in the barn at all. Considering where we live, this is a miracle, but it just goes to show that the majority of predators prey on chickens cause they're easy prey while they're raising their young. The cat must've been somewhere else, thank God!

 

[dakinsmimi]

What about getting guineas or peacocks? My guineas alert us whenever there is anything around out of the ordinary. Even if it is one of our cats that usually stays at the barn. I've also heard that peacocks are even better as guards and they are so beautiful, but I've never had any experience with them.

 

[Agilityscots]

Hi Chicknmania,

Thanks for the update on central Ohio predators! I didn't even realize possums would go for chickens and I know we've got them (my dogs cornered one in the woodpile last summer and we always find them dead in the road). I have a friend in Sunbury who lost every one of her chickens to a weasel in a single night; they've gone after her Indian Runners, too. So I'm really concerned about predators; I hope to keep my girls safe, but it sounds like it's a constant battle.

Amy