*SOB* Raid tonight! Murder Mystery!!! 6 wounded alive so far found

[Cricket]

We had a raid tonight RIGHT before we lock the chicken up at dusk... wasn't even DARK yet!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I HAD 27 4 month old hens and 3 ducks.... I now have 2 ducks and 4 chickens.... all wounded.

The wounds are the same on all of them... 1 broken leg, and a small punctured hole under the left wing.

What do I do, and what predator did this? I'm in the MO ozarks.

A neighbor told us that he had seen a coyote... is this a typical coyote way of killing? We found 11 bodies out of the 27 chicken... so I have a few missing, but a LOT were taken.

Please help!!!! *cries*

Cricket

 

[Queen of the Lilliputians]

Cricket,

I'm so sorry for your loss!! How horrible!

I can't give you any info on Coyotes, except to tell you that up here in Maine I've heard they generally run in packs. Sometimes I can hear them doing their weird yippy howling. I would think an entire pack could do the damage you describe? Wow, that would be a bold bunch to sneak in during the day. Scary!


I hope you figure out who did it.

Meghan

 

[Cricket]

Thank you for the reply! I'm just so ANGRY and SAD.

This was horrible and totally cruel! They left a lot of bodies but took a lot too!!! I'm so upset how they just killed them, and for no reason!!!! UGH!

Cricket

 

[Cricket]

OH... also... I should have included this tidbit... but my dog got off his leash... could he have done this? He has never been aggressive towards the chickens when they walked around him... but we found him off his leash. He's a beagle mix dog, and less than a year old.

Cricket

 

[ozark hen]

Cricket, coyotes are out in the daytime as I have seen them in my fields here but....it could have been your dog. If it were your dog he wouldn't have eaten that many that you say are missing though. Have you searched the area around?? They might be hiding if they escaped? If they are just gone then I would guess coyotes. Be careful as if it were coyotes they just might be back. Your dog may have slipped his leash trying to get away or at them. A coyote will go after your dog. Please keep us updated.

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

Cricket I'm so sorry for your loss. We woke up on Mother's Day to find a predator had gotten into our baby gosling house. It kiilled one of a triio and wounded another. He had puncture wounds and a broken wing. II was told to clean up the puncture wounds wiith saline solutiion and put an antibotiic cream on several times daily. We were also told to bind up the wing. Our Ping iis doing much better. He is finally eating and I thiink he wiill make it. I hope yours do too. My husband spent the day rebuilding the house to make sure nothiing can get in. Its hard . what kind of enclosure do you have. Can the predators get in again. Because they will be back now that they found a meal. This morniing when I went to let the geese out I noticed some dung in the yard. Something is still coming around trying to get my babies. But they are locked up tight. Good luck Micki

 

[cookinmom]

With you finding 11 bodies, whatever it was didn't eat what it killed. I've been told that dogs will do this. I know 0 about coyotes, as we don't have them here. Do you have wandering neighbor dogs?

Keep looking for the missing ones. They may be hiding really good. Sometimes they hide for a few days before they come out.

This is so sad. I hope you find the culprit(s).

 

[bantymum]

Im very sad for you and the chickens, can you set a damp dirt trap so you can get some footprints in it
I would say that your dog would have slipped the lead trying to protect your flock.
As he has beagle in him can you use him as a tracker and take him for a walk. You may find a feather trail and some more info.
I had a fox take some chickens during daylight once and my dog took me to where his den was. Inside a stormwater drain, I didnt go in there, too dark and scary. It may be worth a try.
I say your dog is "not guilty until proven otherwise!"
I hope you find some survivors and that it doesnt happen again.
I think that most of us have had this happen to us at least once, by all sorts of predators, it makes us wiser and tougher.
I hope your pain subsides quickly.

 

[Oaknim]

I had an oppossum and skunk kill my chickens before, but they mainly ripped off heads and bit necks. There were a couple of hens that had puncture wounds to the wings and legs, probably caught while trying to fly up somewhere safe.

Since I do animal rescue, I have foster dogs and the like. I had two that were chicken killing machines - they would go into a frenzy and run from hen to hen, just biting and shaking. Most of the time, they didn't kill them, just mauled them and left them lying stunned. They managed to kill about 13 chickens in a couple of days, so I had to relocate them since I could not keep them from getting into that fence. When they were killing like that, you could see a change in their faces - what were normally friendly little dogs turned into something more sinister. And like I said, they were in a frenzy and actually bit me pretty bad when I tried to grab them. I'm not trying to blame your dog, but it sounds like a dog attack to me. Do your neighbors have wandering dogs? ~ Oaknim

 

[jessupfamily]

We had this exact thing happen to us 3 years ago! It was May 12th 2004 (I remember because it was devastating!) And we watched the culprit come back for some of the bodies right in front of us!!! It was a mother fox! This time of year they have just had their pups and they hunt right before and at sundown (so they don't leave their pups vulnerable to other night hunters). They will kill and/or wound as many as possible and start dragging them to the den one by one to store up! She came back right in front of us through the horse fence and grab one of my silkie hens and looked straight at us (all the while I'm sobbing and being loud). So my husband did a stake out and we discovered we had a fox den just a couple of acres away. We got our goats 2 weeks later and no more foxes!!! By the way we are in SW Indiana and foxes have the same nature in the Ozarks (we have friends over there). Sounds just like a mama fox!
Amy J.