Missing Chickens

[Stubby]

1 hour ago, Stere said:

Thanks for the suggestions

 

Gonna strim & trim  as its become abit of jungle along one side of boundary that  borders on a clawdd/hegderow. Then will be able to see any holes/animals tracks/traces better

 

Used a camera before yrs ago on the hen house pop hole & it caught magpies stealing eggs whole without breaking them.

 

 

Seen a few  dead polecats on road over last yr or so, having never seen one before that. So thinking it might be one squeezing though a hole somewhere.

 

 

 

Hmmm...?

 

Neighbour had a whole load of hens killed at once but iv'e never had that happen.

 

 

 

If its a young fox they usually go bonkers and kill everything , biting the heads off and leaving most of the bodies  .  . A Tawney will leave a ring of feathers were he has plucked it . If there are not many feathers it could be a number of predators including a person ! .

[Countryboy]

I lost 5 in one morning. Hens were kept in a run with 4’ netting. On the outside I had an electric fence with three strands of wire at different heights. I let the hens out at 7am and went and had breakfast but did not switch the electric fence on. Checked them at 8.30am and they were all dead with there heads missing

[Rough Hewn]

I kept poultry for years.
Had various predator problems.
Foxes will generally kill everything.
Had chickens disappear out of some herras fenced pen.
Locked in a pallet shed.
One at a time, every few days.
No blood, feathers or trace.
Caught the culprit one night.
The neighbours small cat.
It could get under the pallets.
[emoji35]

[Mick Dempsey]

Could be a Great White shark or a killer whale.

 

Depending on location.

Edited July 31, 2019 by Mick Dempsey

[forestboy1978]

I saw a fox with only 3 functioning legs scale a fence once. Was impressed. 

[rapalaman]

Customer watched a fox take several cubs over a 6ft wall after I removed a screen of conifers dividing the garden. They climb pretty well and can jump high too. Higher fencing with 45 degree outward facing top, like otter fencing may help. Electrified line at the top too if poss. Mine have steel sheeting and hardcore dug into a trench 18 inches deep and backfilled all round the perimeter. Fox trap from the trap man on eBay helps keep the numbers down too ?

[Matthew Storrs]

Buzzards can take hens- I’ve just started keeping hens myself (only 3 at the mo) but the only way I really felt safe keeping them was to build a totally enclosed run with an 8” board buried below ground. Granted it’s only a 3m x 3m run so much easier but I think I’d do the same even for a large run/ fit and forget...

[Baldbloke]

The op doesn’t mention where he’s from. In Moray I’ve given up on hens as we have too many pine martens which can easily climb anything. Even with concrete blocks covering the entry the bastards were able to lever the door tops open to allow ingress.

[Ratman]

Lay some land mines!

[Stere]

North Wales.

 

Never thought it might be a stray cat, do see some random stray cats around ocasionally.

 

Have a pet cat that  eats alot of rabbits & pheasants, its never shown interest in hens even when   had chicks ducklings etc.