Chicks vanished

[McChooky]

I lost 2 a month ago so I bought a baby monitor and have them locked up. The audio picks up every sound but I still don't know what happened to mine.They disappeared during the day shortly after letting them out

 

[McChooky]

I'm so sorry and just hope you catch whatever's killing them soon.I'd be devastated!

 

[MandyMusshafen]

Sorry for your loss! I watched a video where a man swore nothing could get in but he kept missing chicks and eggs. The snake was living inside the nest boxes under the lid.

We actually had something similar happen last summer, and so we covered the entire bottom of our coop in hardware cloth. We never missed any eggs. And we haven't had any more issues since we moved mama and the remaining babies to a different coop/run. I feel like of it were a snake it would have gone after my other birds or eggs by now. This happened in my bantam pen so they aren't so big that a snake wouldn't give them a try! I lost 2 GLW pullets last summer that were bigger than most of my bantam hens. The snake couldn't finish them off but he killed them trying! I caught him in the act on the 2nd one! It's infuriating to see! I am TERRIFIED of snakes but mama bear went after that one with a vengeance!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

When we first got our coop, we insulated it by stapling cardboard up on the walls. One year I was sure I had a snake bc I was not getting many eggs at all. Finally one day I caught the thief in mid-meal and I was so mad! He'd been living behind the cardboard on the wall! Fortunately he was caught in the mesh of one of the nests (plastic basket things); he'd swallowed an egg, gone through the mesh and swallowed another one, and now could not move. I went to the house and got an axe. I generally have no issue with snakes, but I have no patience with THIEVES!