Predator attack

Backstory:
I knew that eventually the door I used on the chicken house would have to be replaced. It was the door from the barn to the milking room. It never got wet there but it was made from wafer board. Two months ago a section of it rotted off so I couldn't lock the chickens in at night. The first night nothing happened from predators. I knew that it would hurt my old body to replace the door, and as time went on it was 3 months with no problems.


Suddenly I had a predator attack like I have never experienced. 9 chickens were captured from the chicken house. Next morning there were feathers everywhere, I found a half eaten carcass, and the puppies were playing tug with a feathers still on chicken wing. That night I propped up pieces of ply wood against the broken part of the door. The next morning I replaced that door with a door made from treated ply.

I think that it must have been coyotes. Fox take one and run away with it. Possums eat just one and leave a skeleton. My good neighbor, Jack, thinks it may have been due to our only bad neighbor. His ***** had puppies and the poor mama is skin and bones. He caught her messing with his daughters chickens. He's going to see if any feathers around the jerks dog pen. Whatever it was, my chickens will be safe at night from now on.

set a live trap. If it is a coyote pop it in the head with a .22

After seeing a coyote rip a calf out of an antalope when she was calving and then kill the doe as well without eating any of it I have no use for coyotes.

My neighbor also that he's look around the holes in the walls of the ravines for feathers. He said that he had a live trap that he could set. He'd have to kill it though. I don't own a gun.

raccoons are bad too.

Bugger Liz, that sucks. Crappy time of year to lose 9 chooks too. I hope you find the culprit, but glad you got the door situation remedied to protect the rest of your birds.

Sorry to hear Liz. I know this is part of keeping chickens but still sucks. :(
Pat

I think that whatever it was it took mostly my older chickens. The older ones roost in the chicken house and the younger ones roost on a high perch I set up for them outside. It saves me from having to kill them, dress them, and eat them. What I hate most is that whatever it was it took my only hen that was working her way into my heart. She was the only living hen from the first batch I bought. She used to come in the house to lay her egg. She was a good, kind chicken.

But they are just chickens. I do my very best not to think of them as pets.

Liz
I had the same thing happen. It was a slaughter house, 10 killed and it looked like
1 was actually eaten. I trapped the suspect and it was a weasel.
They are wanton killers and do it it seems just for the fun of it.
Jay

Mine were either eaten although one was only partly eaten. I still think is was coyotes only because I can't think of another animal that could have done it. Thankfully, everything has been fine since I replaced the rotted door and started locking them up at night.

I had a fox getting into my coupe and the savage little thing would kill them and not eat them. no matter how I fenced the coupe, it managed to get in.

Quick solution: I put a dog in the back yard and never bothered again.

I've had fox in the past. She (I presume) would snag only one and it was always in the middle of the day. I figured she took it back to her den to feed her pups. My chickens free range during the day so they are easy pickin's for a fox. I have dogs (too many, really) but only one is a large dog. He's a pure sweet heart. He's old now so I always let him sleep inside.

you could get a webcam and get alerts

Liz, I woke up to a massacre this morning :(.

The creature opened a hole behind the fence that leads to the public road so not even the dog could stop it. I lost 12 chickens. I'm done with chickens for now :cry: The weird part is that it only ate one, but killed all.

What a kick n the head. I'm sorry for your loss. It sounds like a dog would do that. Or perhaps the dog did the killing, left, and a possum came in the same hole and ate the one. Try digging a trench under the fence and burying chicken wire or better quality wire fencing in it, then covering it back up. In your part of the country I think that you could order day old chicks any time of year.