Freaking gross! My broody hen had been murdered & was covered in stupid shit flies, her eggs were cracked and all that was left of my handsome rooster was the white feathers pictured behind the baby chicks (see below).
Of course some Sherlock Holmes and Watson action was required, with knives ready (cause who knows WTF animal it was) we searched around for evidence. We followed a trail to a neighbor's house to check their dog for feathers or blood, but found nothing. A hawk could have swooped down but the rooster feathers were all over the place like he'd been shook. Plus there was this...
A bump under the fence and two wet looking rooster feathers on the outside right in front of the fence bump. Mmmmhmmmmm. Bobcat? Raccoon? Coyote? Neighbor's Dog?My whole down trodden chicken family gone in one swoop. :(
xoxo
Ugh, it happened to me too. I had six lovelies I brought from the Hostel in the Forest as babies, and they were living large in the coop, all cozy at night. One morning I discovered three dead ones and no others. There was a torn hole in exterior fence, and another underneath the coop. Some say that foxes will kill everything in sight, while raccoons will drag just one off. But three? I don't know about coyotes. But what I don't want to know is that it was a dog. Seems like wild critters have a right to my critters for food once in a while, but a dog?
ReplyDeleteI haven't replaced them yet. They were friends. I wonder if it's wrong to dig up their graves just to see if the clay has become earth?
Hey Gratuitous...
ReplyDeleteTerrible about your chickens too. I had chickens a few years ago over in Marshall (very rural spot) and every single chicken was picked off one by one (i didn't have a rooster) - i saw three of the culprits myself. Twice it was a neighbor's dog (which i have heard from chicken farmers is a BIG prob), once it was what looked like a coyote (dropped the dieing chicken when it saw me and took off) and I am sure the rest were raccoons cause i saw them come in the evneing for them but would try chasing them off.
Another culprit the organic chicken farmer told me about was the mountain lion, which he said would sit outside his chicken coops in the middle of the night trying to find a way in.
I love foxes, I hadn't even thought about that, but really a fox would squeeze under the fence best.
I think it's fine to dig up your old chickens, of course I am sacraligious like that and i also like to look at bones.
The culprit has been spotted, and of course it's a raccoon.
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