One of my silkie roos was only out for about an hour yesterday and I found him soaking wet missing all of his tail feathers, most of his main feathers on his back and sides plus his wings feathers are broken and stripped. His head and comb were bloody (cheeks around his eyes etc)
I caught him and brought him inside, I looked over him for open wounds but didn't find any. I put down a bunch of old towels in the laundry/bathroom (if you put a chicken in your bathroom, make sure you put down the seat lid, I learned the hard way :o ) He ate, drank and dried out. Its like he lost all his main feathers from the back part of him, like something kept dragging him back. Weird, he was doing very well this afternoon so I let him outside and so far so good.
Do you think it was a roo fight?
Roos fighting or mauled by another animal?
We have had some rather fiesty roo arguments and have never had any of the roos end up like it sounds yours did...sounds like something tried to kill him for dinner and he got away. Poor boy! How scary for him and you! Check for tracks around where he is roaming. Coyotes maybe? got a mouth ful of his feathers whatever it was.
I was thinking the same thing. If a rooster was able to rake out that amount of feathers, surely it would have left wounds? Poor roo. But at least he got away from whatever it is.
Sounds like more than a roo fight. Do you have racoons around? They will go after a chicken and come back for more.
I was thinking the same as you guys. Could be any number of critters. Fox, coyote, racoon, possum, are just a few.
NH might also have badgers or possibly a feral dog or cat.
Like Jcomy said, check for tracks around where he was. If you find any, think about setting a live trap to catch the critter and if necessary, disposing of it. (Not the roo!!)
I cannot check for tracks, we got a lot of snow last night and today. I was thinking maybe even a dog, my neighbors have a small spaniel that has come part way up my driveway and of course my two cannot be counted out. I don't remember if they were out when I found him like that.
I will certainly look for fresh tracks tomorrow morning. My birds are sealed up tight tonight and I will make sure I look around before the dogs run around.
And not to worry, I couldn't use a live roo as bait especially not one I hatched and raised.
You wouldn't use a live roo for bait. We always used marshmallows for bait. The critters seem to love them. A "live trap" is a cage-like device that the critter enters and it can't get out again.
Our area has skunks out now...and they can be a stinky wicket to deal with even in live cages...DH has caught 2 and disposed of them from a long distance but they still stunk up the whole area for about 3 days. We have seen the black bear out also...they are so clever, they would reach into things to pull some nummy out when they first appear in the spring! What kind of critters do you have in your area?
We have badger, fox, coyote, skunk, possum, raccoon, bear, bobcat, cougar, and feral cats. I think that's all.
In my immediate area there are no skunks or raccoons, there hasn't been any in years, all the farmers (mostly milk) have killed them off. My neighbor said he hasn't seen one in years.
We do have black bear, fox, fisher, coyote, owls, eagles and hawks all in my immediate area. I am sure the bears is still sleeping, it is still a winter wonderland.
No tracks and I left them in today just in case, so if it was something looking for a meal it has moved on.
We're so blessed...we have all of the critters you both have plus bald eagles nesting nearby. We have a few wolves as well. It makes it hard to have free range anything and keep them alive! DH is picking off the feral cats one by one. Gustav is a wonderful alert system whenever any of the cats come around. We have a pine marten hanging around too. It would be nasty like the fishers can be. Now I think I had better pray over the coop to keep my chickies safe...I am scaring myself with all the nasty critters around.
We also have bald eagles, hawks, and great horned owls. I don't know about martens or fishers. We might have them too. Just haven't seen or heard about any around here.
We got rid of the feral cats so far. Didn't have any possums for about 5 years but had to kill one this year. DH took down the deer feeder today, so the bear won't use it for a trapeze like he did last year.
Pine martens and fishers are creatures of the far north. Pine martens live in fir or spruce thickets. NH has 6 mustelidae, the smallest is the ermine then long tailed weasel, pine marten, mink, fisher and then the largest is the river otter. I found a site where they say see them, I am going to make some day trips to see if I can get some pics of them. I saw one when I was very young and it scared the poop out of me. Now I wish one would cross my path! I would
The pine marten is not a treat to poultry, it only takes small rodents, fruits and nuts. I am sure if it was starving it would try to take a chicken, according to what I read about them they are only in the far north locations.
Well, seeing as we had a wolverine show up on the other side of the state about a year ago, I don't know if we are far enough north for the martens or fishers. We do, however, have weasels, mink, and ermine here. Oh yes, we also have porcupines, but they are not a threat to chickens because they will only eat your house, not your chickens. We found that out ourselves when one decided it wanted to eat our back steps. We still have the marks there.
Granny you and I must be fairly even across the states ... we are on the edge of zone 2 & 3... 45 minutes south of Lake Superior. We have the same type critters basically. Since we live out in the woods (1/2 mile driveway to the nearest road) we see many of them throughout the year. We have pine snakes that like to get into the eggs and will take the little chicks. They are meaner than can be and rise up 4-5 feet like a cobra when you go after them. Scary things. We kill about 6 or 7 a year trying to get to the chicken yard.
Have you ever eaten a porky? They are s'pose to be a sweet meat according to a friend of ours. We did collect porky needles one year for decorating a gal's dance costume but totally chickened out at cooking it.
Well, I think we are a bit south of you...zone 4, but still have some of the same critters. Yes, I have eaten porky, many years ago. It is kind of a sweet meat, if I remember right. It is a very dark meat also. Our drive is only 200 ft long, but since we live across the road from a major swamp, and are mainly surrounded by woods, (National and State forests) we do have a variety of critters here. We don't have wolves (yet), moose or elk. The wolves are quite a bit north of us. One was verified living in the lower peninsula just last year, so they might be here in the future.
In fact, we live on the border of where the cottontail and snowshoe hare live. We have both here.