I have Brown Leg Horns I started with 20 of them in the past week I have had something kill 5. They seem to want to roost in the tree in front of the hen house at night I cannot seem to stop them from doing this even though we have 3 hen houses. The hens found in the morning with there head and neck gone nothing else. It is so clean it is loke someone took a razor and cut off the head and neck there is nothing eaten and no blood. Some say it is an owl is that possible? If so how do I stop it??? We live outside of Wahoo Nebraska has anyone else had this problem or heard of this???? Please help
Something Killing Hens
I would think an owl would swoop down , snatch and all you would find would be feathers. Atleast to me that seems to be the way with most birds of prey.
Weasels and coons will take off the head and both are night time predators. To be honest it could be anything.
You might have to start using a net to catch them and lock them up every night until they get into a new routine of roosting inside at night. Easier said than done I know !!
Good luck.
Julie
Once you have them inside, keep them inside locked up for a few days. They will get used to the idea of that being their home and will start to roost there on purpose ( sort of like crate training a dog)
HensHorses, One more thing .... be sure the hen house can not be broken into by a predator. It is easy to prevent chickens from escaping a hen house. It is another thing to prevent the predator(s) from breaking in. You do have an unenviable dilemma. I've had similar trouble before and it is usually not easy to solve. Raccoon or weasel ... probably a raccoon. They are pesky and determined. I've been lucky having to deal with dogs and a coyotes (and skunks that take the eggs). If we had to contend with raccoons .... we probably wouldn't have chickens, guineas, ducks or turkeys. The coops I read about that are Fort Knox type .... just take the wind out of my sails. I admire the determination of people to build such incredible places. I'm so busy with work and preoccupied ... I take 5 minutes of my time to toss out the scratch in the morning and hope for the best. Best wishes to you. Those Danish Brown Leghorns are absolutely beautiful chickens. My Welsumers look pretty much the same but are a bit larger and lay an extra large dark chestnut brown egg (white eggs are terrific too).
HensHorses,
I used to live in Wahoo, NE! I am just outside Glenwood now. I would agree that racoons are most likely the culpret. You could maybe try feeding the chickens in the hen house as much as possible and if you could catch them all in there close them in for a couple days. As soon as they realize that is their home they should come back on their own each night.
Post some picture of your chickens! I have never ever heard of a brown leghorn!
Melissa
PS...I raise horses out here too. :)
In my experience that sound like a weasel
They like to behead the victim,and eat the soft tissue
They like blood too
they don't eat the meat that a coon would
like the breast
I say coon or cat.
Any more victims since your last post ??
Julie