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Farming Friends Forum » Hens

1. admin
   Sara @ farmingfriends

   Hi All,

   Just had this email from Jacquey who has lost all her hens to a predator and she was wondering what it could be.

   "We had 16 chickens for about 5 years. Same chickens, same checken pen, same chicken house. About 2 months ago, 2-3 chickens were disappearing a night. We, over a weeks time, secured the bottem of the fence, fastened the door with a bungee cord, nailed the doors to the house shut, and nailed long pieces of tin to the top. Still, after all this, all of our chickens were taken. At the end of the 3 weeks it took to take all of our friends, it could not get them out of the pen, just would take them to the fence, and eat them from there. I was wondering if you knew what this could be, and how to control this. We live in rural Missouri on the Big River, and LOVED our chickens. They were a part of our family. Any help would be appriciated! Thank you, Jacquey"

   I suppose it could be rats, a mink, or fox. Let me know what you think.

   Kind regards
   sara @ farmingfriends

   http://www.farmingfriends.com
   http://farmingfriends.com/shop/

   Posted 2 years ago #

2. Mama
   Member

   Jacquey, So sorry to hear about your loss.You must be extremely upset . I lost all my chickens several years ago to a marten, it just killed the lot. It could be any of the things you say but the most likely returning animal is a fox, I have heard they just keep coming back but then again they will also kill the whole flock in one go . Can a fox get in ?. Regards Mama

   Goose Girl

   Posted 2 years ago #

3. campbell ridge
   Administrator

   Sorry to hear of your huge loss.
   It sounds like a very flexible, small animal that can flatten itself to get through the smallest of gaps. You say you have abungee on the door. A bungee strap is very stretchy so it could be prising the door open to get in. You will have to put a bright light in the shed at dusk and close it up and see where the light is shining through. Alternatively go inside during the day and close it up and see where daylight is getting in. We have stoats and the occasional mink in UK that can get through unimaginably small spaces, but it must be able to get out of the bungee strapped door in order to get out with the chicken in its mouth.
   Best of all put very small mesh around the run so it cant even get into the run and overlap it onto the ground or bury the mesh by a good 6 inches.
   Sarah

   Sarah L

   Posted 2 years ago #

4. Melli
   Member

   oh hun I am so sorry.I understand your comment about them being your friends.I think everyone on here feels the same way.
   From experience here some rotten sod has released ferrets(polecats) into the wild.They are from the weasel type family,small and incredibly flexible.Could some have been released near you? xxxx

   Posted 2 years ago #

5. scottishlass
   Member

   Sorry to hear this , is there any chance you could get a live catch trap and try and trap whatever it is, A few years ago we had a fox kill all our hens bar 2 the dam thing only took away 2 to eat maybe our fault we were running late at getting back home and in the 10 min we were late all hell had broken loose. We got a trap set with one of the hens that was left headless caught the fox the next night and had it disposed off. If we had not got rid of this fox it would have just kept coming back as it knew where the food source was.

   http://counrtryways.freeforums.org/index.php

   Posted 2 years ago #

6. admin
   Sara @ farmingfriends

   Hi All,
   Thanks for your replies, I have emailed Jacquey and let her know about your responses, so thanks again. I'll let you know if she replies.
   Kind regards
   Sara @ farmingfriends

   http://www.farmingfriends.com
   http://farmingfriends.com/shop/

   Posted 2 years ago #

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