All that is left of two of them is a pile of feathers. Whatever it was left a lot of the last chicken so we picked her up and are using her for bait in a trap. All killed were two year old golden comets which are smaller hens.
The rest of the hens are scared to death. They won't come out of the barn. Even the barn cats are scared and won't come out of the barn. We found the dead chickens out by the apple trees on the edge of the woods. This had to have happened yesterday while they were free ranging. I'm afraid to let the chickens out now. They have a big covered run so I'll likely keep them penned up. I hate doing it because they love to free range and go all over the farm but whatever it was that killed these three will be back for more I'm sure.
Their coop is pretty secure but I think we'll close the doggy door tonight locking them up in the barn. I won't take any chances something could get in their run.
I am going to take some treats out to the hens and talk to them and try to get them calmed down. Poor things. It must have been scary to them to witness that.
Something killed three of my hens
I'm so sorry to hear that. I know it's not much consolation, but at least whatever killed them ate them and didn't just kill for nothing. :(
I know it's a horrible feeling.. I hope you find out what it was.
Thank you. I hope so too. If any had to die at least it was the older birds who aren't laying as well as they used to. I've been thinking that maybe we can let the others free range late in the day while we sit out there with guns and watch them................but not for a while.
So Sorry loon. Ive been there so many times and it never gets any better! Dont let it get you down.
Hopefully you will soon find out what the culprit is and take care of it!
Sorry for your loss.
A couple years back we were losing some of our free ranging hens to mid-day fox attacks. One ran right across the front steps chasing the hens in the middle of the day.
Good luck with your trap!!
So sorry. Hope you catch it because it now knows where dinner is and will return
Awww, Loon, I'm so sorry to hear that! I sure hope you're able to dispatch whatever did it. I feel bad for your other chickens for being so afraid. I'm sure you'll be able to coax them out with some treats and sweet talking. Hugs for you all!
Well there is a bit of good news. Upon recounting the hens it turns out there was only one killed not three. When we saw the two piles of feathers we thought two had died and been eaten. I guess it is where it was being killed or struggling with the predator. I think my husband was so upset he just couldn't count right. He is their main caretaker and is closer to the chickens really. We'll keep them penned up and see what we catch in the trap in the morning. Of course there is no guarantee that what we trap was the original culprit. At least it seems now there was only one animal that got to her.
Loon, I'm sorry. I know how hard that is. Just a thought, but if the attack happened during daylight hours, setting a trap at night may not help as much. I'd set for the day, as well. Since the poor hen was eaten, I'd agree with jab, a fox is a good possibility. I'm curious now about daylight predators. if I find anything interesting, I'll pop back.
Someone posted a link to an article that described how to tell from the damage to your chicken what the predator was likely to be. Does anyone remember that site?
Podster would you put that in the sticky? I think it is of general interest.
It is handled... added to the reference links sticky.
We caught and killed an opossum this morning. Reset trap to see what else wanders in. Thanks for the link. I've bookmarked it. Will come in handy in the future.
Were you able to make a guess at your predator?
Yes, we think it was the opossum that we caught and killed in the trap.
Sorry, late coming to this thread. Very sorry for your loss. Hope you caught the culprit already and no further worries ahead!
It would be unusual for a possum to be able to catch and kill a hen who is walking around during the day, as they're pretty nocturnal. I suspect something else is around. Possums are pretty opportunistic, and will take eggs and such at night, but they're not really daylight hunters.
Not saying it's not possible, just suggesting you keep your eyes open for something else that's a more effiecient predator.
I hope it _was_ the 'possum, and that your chickens are safe now.
Ok, this is OT, but I was just looking at the predator guide, and checking out "coyotes".
Imagine my surprise when I found out that I was feeding the feral cats completely inappropriately...
It says
"•Don't feed feral cats / stray dogs / wildlife / anything except your children"
I don't have kids, wonder what I should be using instead??
catmad, I feed a feral cat we keep here at the shop. We caught her (trapped her shortly after someone somehow dumped here) and had her spayed and vetted up, then released her. She is an excellent ratter! I feed her once a day, first thing when I get here. I don't give her more than what she can eat in one sitting. The I put her bowls up out of reach of any other animal. We do have coyotes around here, but they don't come looking for her food as we control when it is available. Don't leave bowls full of cat food overnight, etc. Maybe you already do this? I read somewhere that this is the only safe way to feed outdoor cats and keep the racoons, etc. out of the feed. Don't even leave the empty bowls out for other animals to investigate.
She knows when her food is coming. She stays with her bowl until she is done. If she is still hungry I give her more. She even recognizes my truck when I pull into the parking lot. Cats are smart. They catch onto the drill fast.
Oh dear. That flopped.
What I found extremely funny was the caveat not to feed them anything except children.
Maybe I need more coffee. Or sleep.
Thank you so much for taking the time to post that info, it's spot-on. The only thing I would add is that while raccoons can climb (very well, i'm afraid) they cannot jump. If you put a feeding/resting station up high (at least 6 feet) and encase the legs in metal flashing, it's coon proof. I put another platform within easy cat-jumping distance, and they figure it out quickly. Keeps unwanted critters out of cat food and gives the cats a safe place.
LOL! My children were all too skinny (although they ate like hungry cows). Not enough there to keep the wildlife fed for even a day. And my two boys would probably have just joined the other side! And those boys ate a lot! They would have taken over and led the animals to hyjack passing Schwann's trucks, ice cream trucks, and pizza delivery cars. The implications would have been Orwellian!
Hmmmm, Cat I wonder if I could use Neighbor Kids (teenagers)! Just wondering!
I'm afraid I don't have enough children! We have lots of feral cats to feed; I guess I didn't read the directions either.
Catmad ~ it was not wasted on me. I almost choked on my dinner when I read that ~ need to wipe the chewed food off the monitor. Thanks ~ after today I needed that.
I will second the daytime possum thought. It is odd to see one moving during daylight hours. I would keep an eye peeled just in case he wasn't the culprit.
Glad to amuse, I had giggling fits for hours:)
I am taking Eufalas thoughts into consideration. Not necessarily Neighbor Kids (I don't think there are any), but maybe Neighbors....
You can have my bad neighbors.
I had the neighbors from h-e-double-toothpicks in my last neighborhood. She had several children worthy of wildlife fodder. And I understand, since we moved, she's had a couple more!
I think between us all we could feed whatever it is and keep it away from your chickens! This is turning into a Grimm Brother's fairy tale!
There was this woman years ago that lived on the corner that had a little boy, about two. They lived here several years. She didn't like us and would send her little boy over to curse us out when he was three or four. I would just tell my daughters to come in the house. Finally they moved, WHEW.
I just heard a few weeks ago that that little boy spent most of his teen years in juvenile boot camps and has been in prison several years. He just got out and has fathered a child.
I love children, but the parents can sometimes sure mess them up.
"train up a child in the way it should go...."
Catmad, I loved your observation. We used to go to a restaurant that offered "child burgers" and it was always a source of jokes for us. My sister also once got us a fake Campbell's soup can that said "Children and Stars" on the label. I think the original label would have been "Chicken and Stars" for star-shaped noodles.
That predator reference is excellent. When we lose a chicken during the day it's always to a hawk. But we have found that geese do a good job of deterring their visits when we run them among the chickens. We did have a mink or weasel in the henhouse last year, and that was just terrible. We lost a lot of birds.
Keeping your chickens in a protected run is probably the best way to handle things right now even though it's a shame to have to confine them.
Possums usually catch chickens off the roost. They can move faster than you think but not fast enough to chase down a chicken in the open during the day. They will steal eggs during the day.
Catmad, I'm still chuckling over your quandry on May 3rd over what to feed the feral cats since you don't have kids. That's sooooo funny!!
Keep us posted on what else you catch. Whatever it is, I hope you catch the real culprit soon. That would be so heartbreaking, to find a chicken that way.
Does anybody know if hawks very often take chickens in towns, or just in the country? Here where I live in Tulsa we do have hawks, also foxes, skunks, racoons, sometimes possums. So do I need to keep them in a covered run in the daytime, unless I'm there with them? (Actually, it's illegal to shoot a gun in town, so my being there wouldn't be much help if a hawk did fly down.) Oh oh, another problem to deal with with raising chickens!
If you see hawks they can see your chickens, and if they're hungry they'll try to get them. Might not be as much of a problem if you have a small yard where they'd have trouble maneuvering, though. Anyway, shooting them isn't the answer; it's illegal to kill raptors and other native migratory birds. Grackles and English sparrows are fair game because they were imported.
"Possums usually catch chickens off the roost. They can move faster than you think ":
Ain't that the truth. I took one out of my cat enclosure (still don't know how he got in) and took him to a wild area to release. I dropped him close to the tree line, but he took off in the open, running hard towards another stand of trees. He really got going, and I was surprised.
Hope he found enough to eat. Never seemed to have bothered the chickens, and I know he'd been around (or a buddy of his) for some time.
I use avairy netting that I got of ebay,it works great even in the winter,hope you can see it in this picture
The chickens are back out free ranging. The opossum got into the chicken coop and drug off the hen. My husband was out late at a ham meeting and forgot to close the coop door before he left. We won't make that mistake again.
We're in the process of cleaning out the indoor coop and putting the pine shavings on our vegetable garden to turn under. We're looking forward to adding ten more light brahma chicks to the group. They're coming in the mail the week of May 15th.
That netting looks interesting. I need to put something up around my pole barn porch to keep the hens off it. They crap everywhere and like to sit on my furniture. :) Keeps us busy pressure washing off the cement.
You can see the netting a little better in this picture
Be careful. That moose antler is going to attract porcupines. LOL
What?