Having a rough day here.... Our guinea got caught in the neighbors fence and is so torn up I don't think she will make it. Decided to check on the chickens and right away noticed 2 missing, an Americana hen and a Mille Fleur rooster.
After a bit of searching around I found some of the roosters feathers about 15' outside of the woods that edge the property, looking in the woods I then found a bunch of feathers from the hen about 15' inside the woods. So, our flock has gone from 6 to 4 in the space of an afternoon, not including the guinea.
We let the chickens free range, actually stopped for a while as we lost a hen and really good rooster a while back. But, just got used to letting them out again and enjoying watching them roam all around and hang out with the neighbors ducks.
I am assuming a fox got them, but is it normal that it would take 2 like that and in broad daylight? They likely went missing around 5pm. Anything else likely to have got them? We have bears and coyotes in the area, but a fox seems the most likely culprit. At this point it's likely we will keep them fenced in again for a while, despite how happy they are walking all around. Never would have guessed having chickens was this stressful, last one we lost a bear pulled the fence over, reached in and snatched a chicken right out of the run.
I may end up extending their run, it's currently 30x15, I hate not letting them roam, but losing them sucks.
After a bit of searching around I found some of the roosters feathers about 15' outside of the woods that edge the property, looking in the woods I then found a bunch of feathers from the hen about 15' inside the woods. So, our flock has gone from 6 to 4 in the space of an afternoon, not including the guinea.
We let the chickens free range, actually stopped for a while as we lost a hen and really good rooster a while back. But, just got used to letting them out again and enjoying watching them roam all around and hang out with the neighbors ducks.
I am assuming a fox got them, but is it normal that it would take 2 like that and in broad daylight? They likely went missing around 5pm. Anything else likely to have got them? We have bears and coyotes in the area, but a fox seems the most likely culprit. At this point it's likely we will keep them fenced in again for a while, despite how happy they are walking all around. Never would have guessed having chickens was this stressful, last one we lost a bear pulled the fence over, reached in and snatched a chicken right out of the run.
I may end up extending their run, it's currently 30x15, I hate not letting them roam, but losing them sucks.