We live in a young suburban neighborhood with open space all around. The only animals I have seen in our neighborhood are rabbits, an occasional squirrel and hawks/eagles. We have seen hawks take birds rightout of our bird feeder, so we know they are near by. Otherwise, I have seen nothing else.
We lost one of our favorite 'girls' last night (or early this morning). The only evidence is feathers EVERYWHERE! They are both inside and outside of the coop. The vast majority are in the coop, under the roosts. We are trying to figure out what did it. Though there are patches of feathers in various spots in their run (and outside of it), we have found no carcass. It appears whatever did it, attacked her in the coop and dragged her out. The run is not covered, so it could've flown out, but there are places where smart, smallish animal could easily crawl under our admittedly lame fencing.
I am thinking it was a hawk because I have never seen anything else and because there is no carcass. Dh says he thinks it is a fox because he doubts a hawk would go into the coop. Also, Gertrude was a big girl. Not as big as a brahma, but on the larger size of chickens. Could a hawk take an animal that big?
ANyone have any ideas? have you ever heard of a hawk entering a coop (it's 6x5 feet)? Would the large amount of feather indicate a bird? Don't they pluck their prey?
Barb
We lost one of our favorite 'girls' last night (or early this morning). The only evidence is feathers EVERYWHERE! They are both inside and outside of the coop. The vast majority are in the coop, under the roosts. We are trying to figure out what did it. Though there are patches of feathers in various spots in their run (and outside of it), we have found no carcass. It appears whatever did it, attacked her in the coop and dragged her out. The run is not covered, so it could've flown out, but there are places where smart, smallish animal could easily crawl under our admittedly lame fencing.
I am thinking it was a hawk because I have never seen anything else and because there is no carcass. Dh says he thinks it is a fox because he doubts a hawk would go into the coop. Also, Gertrude was a big girl. Not as big as a brahma, but on the larger size of chickens. Could a hawk take an animal that big?
ANyone have any ideas? have you ever heard of a hawk entering a coop (it's 6x5 feet)? Would the large amount of feather indicate a bird? Don't they pluck their prey?
Barb