What is killing my chickens?

[ohiosteve]

It could very well be an owl I've been hearing them a lot the past few weeks. Could be a dog too, possibly our border Collie who has killed them in the past but not for a couple years. I thought she was over it but maybe she relapsed.

 

[M-5]

It could very well be an owl I've been hearing them a lot the past few weeks. Could be a dog too, possibly our border Collie who has killed them in the past but not for a couple years. I thought she was over it but maybe she relapsed.

Winner winner chicken dinner. Pun intended

 

[ohiosteve]

Good pun M5, and you may well be correct but I'm going with innocent until proven guilty on this one. I will install game camera this weekend. Egg production was way down today. One thing I didn't mention was this all started after I killed a broody hen and prepared her for dinner on Saturday. I plucked her on a tree in the yard and left the feathers. Maybe this confused our dog or left a scent for the predator.

 

[Mat Man]

The next chicken found dead tie it in a big live trap.

 

[Nesikep]

From what I heard of weasels, they'll kill the whole bunch of chickens.. We've caught a couple weasels here but always by accident in a rat trap, they never bothered the chickens (yet)

 

[Commercialfarmer]

It's not a cougar but it could be a bear.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... ZwYfFLa5qQ

16 posts in is an obvious improvement. But I think we can still do better.

 

[Deepsouth]

It's not a cougar but it could be a bear.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... ZwYfFLa5qQ

16 posts in is an obvious improvement. But I think we can still do better.

 

[Ky hills]

I agree chickens are prey for most any predator. Raccoons have been the most problematic for my chickens, have lost 1 to a hawk, and have found a weasel in the coop when I went to fasten them in late one night. The picture does look similar to the result of the hawk kill of mine, so I'm guessing an owl or hawk, depending on the time. Last year, there were two minks killed on the road infront of our yard, with a couple weeks of each other, I figured they were coming to try and get into the chicken house.

 

[greybeard]

A WEASEL....probably the unemployed creepy "New Colonel Sanders" from last year's KFC ads before he was replaced.

I don't watch much TV. Is this the new one?

 

[wacocowboy]

My buddies wife had chickens and they started losing them couldn't figure out what was getting them till they caught a big grey tom cat in the act. That devil killed off most of their rabbits and 5 chickens before he got him with his 22. We knew it was him getting the cotton tails because just like the chickens he would eat a lil bit and leave the rest for buzzards. I never did know a house cat could drag something as big as a chicken or rabbit off, but they found the chickens about 100 or so yards from the house.

 

[Dave]

I am going with Sasquatch. If it is not a cougar, or a bear, or a chupacabra it just about has to be a sasquatch.

 

[Ebenezer]

These chickens have died a slow death! It has taken up to page 3 t find the killer. Where's Sherlock Holmes when you need him?

 

[greybeard]

I am going with Sasquatch. If it is not a cougar, or a bear, or a chupacabra it just about has to be a sasquatch.

nah---Voodoo or Santeria folks--they always be cuttin chiken heads off and sprinkling the blood around.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... reets.html
or.....
Has Mel Brooks has been around?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS_Shu8y0sI

 

[branguscowgirl]

Oh how I have missed you all since I have been away!!
Same ole, same ole I see! :santa:

 

[ohiosteve]

Well no more deaths since I last posted. I'm not ruling out our dog but she was going bezerk about 4am a couple nights ago and then running around the chicken coop hot on the tail of something but never got it. I suspect a coon like rla442 suggested. Especially since the one carcass I found was real close to a big ravine along my driveway. Been too busy to set up a game-cam. Funny enough just finished getting a site ready for a 20,000 head chicken barn in Amish country. Getting ready to break ground on a different Amish place for a 40,000 head setup. These are layer barns. For those of you not good with numbers I did the math and that's a crap-load of eggs, makes my dozen seem rather insignificant.

 

[ohiosteve]

Here's that 20,000 head site. Beautiful country near Charm Ohio. It was fun lugging that 13' wide dozer down miles and miles of hilly 10' buggy paths.

 

[Deepsouth]

Update please.

 

[M-5]

read , 2 post up from yours ,,,, D ip S hyt

 

[Deepsouth]

read , 2 post up from yours ,,,, D ip S hyt

That was yesterday.

 

[Dave]

Well no more deaths since I last posted. I'm not ruling out our dog but she was going bezerk about 4am a couple nights ago and then running around the chicken coop hot on the tail of something but never got it. I suspect a coon like rla442 suggested. Especially since the one carcass I found was real close to a big ravine along my driveway. Been too busy to set up a game-cam. Funny enough just finished getting a site ready for a 20,000 head chicken barn in Amish country. Getting ready to break ground on a different Amish place for a 40,000 head setup. These are layer barns. For those of you not good with numbers I did the math and that's a crap-load of eggs, makes my dozen seem rather insignificant.

There is a big layer outfit within a couple miles of me. Actually birds on 5 different farms but all fairly close together. The total capacity is 960,000 hens. That is one heck of a big omelet.