I lost 7 chickens in the last week from predators. Twice, 2 were taken the same day. T3hey were first year chickens. Yesterday, 3 of my older ones went missing. Not a single sign of them. One was my Brahma, so she was a big chicken. Strange no feathers anywhere. I free range them during the day, well I use to. I never had an issue in the spring or summer with predators. Late fall and winter I have, mostly hawks. At a picnic yesterday, a guy said he lost his entire flock wednesday. He never had an issue with predators. He said it seemed the high temps we were having made the predators go off. As he had other friends have the same issue last week. Has anyone heard of this?
We had a number of layers killed awhile back and are now down to 2! Trapping and shooting coons helped as did shooting a coyote while standing on the back deck, he had one in his jaws but he took a dirt nap.
Coyotes or foxes near you? I've heard of hawks and such but wierd yours just disappeared w/ no evidence. Do they free range onto neighbors property? I swear, if my neighbors birds (turkeys and chickens) wonder into my flowerbeds again, Roscoe will be allowed to make the kill, then I'll dispose.
They do free range, but go in neighbors back yard and its half a mess. He wouldnt know if they were there or not. We do have yotes and foxes around. Though Ive never had them around the house in summer months, at least during mid day! I should have kept them locked up after the first attack. Crazy thing is there's a house up the road and they dont even have a run, just a coop and the guy said he never had predator issues.
Coons been getting our outdoor kittens...this guy showed up in the coon trap one morning...guess he likes apples too
Have a friend who's shot 3 fox over the last 5 years. It tears him up to do it but him & wife run a large flock and lose a bird a day when one gets addicted to easy meals. I've never ran any but understand the odd situation it can put you in if you like animals. We basically leave a buffet in our yards and expect the predators to be honorable in not killing them, adhering to our standards. The predators have no idea of what animal husbandry is. They just know that the place over past the creek has lots of prey and their babies are hungry.
Gosh I'm sorry. An owl took our cat in the early 90's. No sign until husband took our bird dog down the canyon to find his arms and spine. I imagine it'd be the same with a chicken for a chicken. Any bird of prey I suppose.
