CuddleWoozle
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I came home to find -something- attacking our chickens. I didn't see what it was and it didn't leave any clues that I could spot in the dark. But we went from around twenty chickens to seven.
It killed my two favorites, Butterscotch and Special Ed the Rooster and I am extremely sad about it.:sad:
My brother and his girlfriend made all these promises that they would take care of the chickens for us so my mom could go back to working. Well, it was OK at first, but apparently now they're too lazy to even walk down and close a door flap.
Whatever it was, it was just walking right into the building, catching the birds, killing them and dragging them off. Not even having to work to break in! I'm suspecting either raccoon or fox, but the opening it was using to get into the run seems a bit too snug for a fox to fit through. But I'll probably never know.
We did have a litter of foxes earlier this year, but I had thought they'd moved on out of the area by now. But we've had skunks, foxes, raccoons and coyotes come through before. So really it's anyone's guess since I didn't see it.
I heard the chicken squawking, ran inside the house and grabbed a baseball bat and flashlight. By the time I made it through the yard, the attacker had fled leaving a bird with a bite wound on the back of her neck where it was trying to drag her through the opening. That's why I was wondering if it was a raccoon or something, because I would have thought a fox would just catch the bird, kill it and THEN drag it off so it wasn't fighting so much.
The intense irony is that my brother (who promised to take care of the chickens) is constantly harping on about something 'getting them', and yet he never ONCE made sure the building was closed up and secure.
I would have been doing it myself, but I -believed- they were doing it. Apparently I have to lock the chickens up myself at 2pm before I leave for work.
Lesson reinforced: Never trust anyone.
It killed my two favorites, Butterscotch and Special Ed the Rooster and I am extremely sad about it.:sad:
My brother and his girlfriend made all these promises that they would take care of the chickens for us so my mom could go back to working. Well, it was OK at first, but apparently now they're too lazy to even walk down and close a door flap.
Whatever it was, it was just walking right into the building, catching the birds, killing them and dragging them off. Not even having to work to break in! I'm suspecting either raccoon or fox, but the opening it was using to get into the run seems a bit too snug for a fox to fit through. But I'll probably never know.
We did have a litter of foxes earlier this year, but I had thought they'd moved on out of the area by now. But we've had skunks, foxes, raccoons and coyotes come through before. So really it's anyone's guess since I didn't see it.
I heard the chicken squawking, ran inside the house and grabbed a baseball bat and flashlight. By the time I made it through the yard, the attacker had fled leaving a bird with a bite wound on the back of her neck where it was trying to drag her through the opening. That's why I was wondering if it was a raccoon or something, because I would have thought a fox would just catch the bird, kill it and THEN drag it off so it wasn't fighting so much.
The intense irony is that my brother (who promised to take care of the chickens) is constantly harping on about something 'getting them', and yet he never ONCE made sure the building was closed up and secure.
I would have been doing it myself, but I -believed- they were doing it. Apparently I have to lock the chickens up myself at 2pm before I leave for work.
Lesson reinforced: Never trust anyone.