Ok guys I was enjoying a nice Mother’s Day dinner with the wife and kids. We returned home to discover the chickens putting themselves up for the night just like normal. All except our rooster and one of the hens disappeared. We let our chickens free range in the yard. It is fenced in but there are small holes something could possibly get through and the chickens do occasionally get out in the woods. The only sign was some white feathers from our rooster inside the yard not 15ft in front of the coop. No blood, no signs of struggle. No feathers or anything from the missing hen. Whatever got them seems to have done it in daylight and in the yard inside the fence. We have the usual predators around such as hawks, fox, coyotes and raccoons. My thought is a hawk or 2 snatched them and took them off. I would think if a fox, coyotes or domestic dog got them there would be a lot more feathers on the ground and possibly blood. Obviously I expected this to happen sometime with letting them free range but Im still curious what got them. What do you guys think?

You are correct in surmising that it was a raptor.

Yep, I'd bet on raptor too. Losses suck.

I've seen fox make off with a chicken plenty of times and this time of year seems like daylight is more common. Especially if you seal the roost at night.

They aren't known as being sly for nothing. Look around a hundred yards or more and if you find a feather pile, I'd put my money on fox.

Who knows. I lost 3 hens this week. I have eliminated 2 very large boar coon just outside the coop. I have a top cover that was compromised by a peach tree. Peach tree is now gone too. My fault as I recognized it last year and didn’t deal with it.

X2

Hawks swoop in, nab em, eventually kill em and start plucking breast feathers and eat on the spot. A full grown rooster.....at least some of them......are a match for most any hawk. They are not going down without a fight.

Fox on the other hand............they carry off the prize.

PS: If it was a fox, it will be back.

I have an old trapping book from the 30's that says a responsible trapper kills all eagles owls and hawks. Shame things have changed.

I would gladly kill the hawks but Ive heard they are protected. However does a man have the right to protect his livestock against a raptor? Obviously an eagle im sure Im SOL but can I legally kill a hawk for killing my chickens?

No difference in protection between Hawks, owls, eagles, cardinal, blue Jay's, etc.

Eagle. Big enough to catch while flying and not stop. the rooster may have made him falter.

there aint no telling from info provided

I would put money it's a fox, in Mo. It starts the first of June round about, they are very random and very hard to kill if you have other animals where you can't trap, look very close at the fence holes and try a snare if possible. They will travel quite aways to get a chicken.

The hawks we have here cannot carry a chicken that size. When hawks have killed my chickens, the hawk strikes them to the ground and starts tearing them apart right there while pulling out lots of feathers, leaving a carcass and piles of feathers. I have only had one tiny bantam that was small enough for a hawk to carry away, but still the hawk pulled out lots of her feathers right there on the ground before carrying her away.

When a coyote killed my chickens, there was only a feather or two and no blood at the spot of the abduction. Later, I spotted a coyote peaking out above a log across the creek. I shot the coyote and then found my hen's legs right there where the coyote was hiding. That was during the day in July, when I am told that the little ones come out of the den and hunt with the adults. Any daytime coyote kills like that have been in July here.

Fox may be similar as some have suggested. I have not had one here yet They are probably discouraged by the coyote population around here.

Good luck!

I agree with those saying it was a fox. I’ve lost lots of chickens to foxes. They grab them and run off. There might be a few feathers where they grab them and maybe a few more to point you in the general direction that he ran off with it, but that’s about it.

With a raptor kill, there is generally a large amount of feathers at the kill site.

We have an increasing number of fisher here and they have chickens on their menu

The raptor killed chickens in have had they didnt cary them off they ate them in place. They flew off the kill and meal when I walked up.

I watched a bald eagle hit a malard once. When it flew off with it it could not get much altitude only 10 feet above the water and eventually dropped the duck. So im betting a chicken would be to heavy to pack off far if at all for most birds that are smaller than an eagle. Then two gone not just one at once. I lost multiple chickens to raptors but it was over several days.

My bet is on a fox with pups to feed. Fox will grab one and smash it for later and come back for more. I lost several ducks in one night to a fox.

Next guess would be dogs. But domestic would likely leave a mess behind.


I may be wrong but around here hawlks eat at the kill sight at least the few times I have 100% sure saw it, and also when oi come up on the sign of opend up eating chicken with bird poo on the ground at the kill.

Then again I had a crow foot and feathers all around a coyot set once. Remade the set and had a great horned own in the set the next day. So my conclusion was the crow wondering into my set. The owl carried off the crow and came back for 2nds the next night. It was a very cool bird I has no idea thair legs were so thick. Owl didnt even loose a feather and didnt even seem inconvenienced as it flew away upon release.

So an out can carry off a crow so I guess raptors could a chicken thats heavier.

Then again I could be wrong and anything else could have got the crow the night before and the owl was just attracted by the feathers spread around.


My first guess is still a nursing fox.

Fox feeding a litter. See it regular. See the fox running down the middle of the road in broad daylight with a whole chicken from the free range chicken fella down the road. Not a yote in the daytime where I am.

I used to trap for an eccentric retired college professor. He free-ranged hundreds of chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. that was a twenty-plus-fox-per-season farm.

He told me he's seen fox run off with domestic turkeys.

Since him and his wife moved out-of-state and the poultry is gone, that is now a 7-8 fox-per-season farm.