Last night i had 6 chickens come missing . there were feathers on the ground but not alot. they have never?

Question

got out. I have about 25 in the indoor outdoor pen. No holes under fence. and fence is over 6 feet tall. i live in michigan.

Answer 1

Probably raccoons

Answer 2

cannibal chickens.

Answer 3

I'd suggest putting a wire mesh covering over the top of the chicken pen, as quickly as you can. Foxes can climb fences of any height, and as others have said, many other critters can get in as well. Maybe you have a hungry family of foxes about. It's hard to know.

I grew up in the country, and even though our chicken pen fence was about 10 feet tall, we still had to have wire over the top of it. I'm in Australia, so foxes were pretty much the only thing in our area that wanted to bother our chooks, but, in the US, you have even more critters to worry about.

Good luck. Hope you don't lose any more.

Answer 4

Most predators of chickens would catch one and take it elsewhere to eat.  A family of raccoons could take one per animal, but a pack of 6 would be unusual.  Raccoons and foxes would have no difficulty with a 6 foot fence.

I would suggest you search the area up to 1/4 mile from your pen for evidence of your chickens being eaten.  The second alternative is man but you should be able to find tracks that are not yours around the pen.  What ever got your chickens will be back tomorrow or the next day.

Answer 5

Yeah, maybe a fox can climb a fence.  What about an owl?  They hunt at night.  I really don't think Michigan is a place where humans are desperate enough to steal live chickens.  Forget about humans.

Answer 6

Wow 6?

When my dog used to get loose and raid the neighbors farm he would just grab one and bring it home and make quite a mess.

I'm no farmer but 6 seems like a lot to go missing in one night.

And only a few feathers left? So either whatever got em ate em whole right there with no mess and no left overs? Or whatever got em took them somewhere else. But 6?

Seriously it sounds like they were stolen to me. If a single animal came around and took the chicken away, it came back 5 more times?

The lack of a mess (no remains left behind) and the fact that 6 were missing seems like human not animal to me.

But again I'm not a farmer.

Answer 7

you may have a fox in your midst. Raccoons usually just bite off the heads and leave the rest.

Or perhaps a human thief.

Answer 8

If you chickens are not keep in a secure wildlife proof pen, just about anything could have eaten them: raccoon, cat, fox, coyote, hawk, owl, etc. As long as you are supplying a free meal..predators will keep coming to eat it.