Last week I lost three hens to...something. My chicken roost in an open fronted barn about 7 ft up on perches. We found the first corpse partially eaten under a tractor, the next was under a trailer outside and covered over with leaves, didn't find the third, she was just gone. There was no great mess of feathers like you get with a fox.
Answers on a postcard....
Motherwoman
Hen raider
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Could be a Buzzard?
John
John
The Gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men’s lives, the hours spent fishing Assyrian tablet
What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
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What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning Werner Heisenberg
I am a man and the world is my urinal
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Motherwoman
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Well we got the stealth cam on the job (we normally have it trained on the gate for 2 legged vermin) and it turns out to be a ruddy great feral cat! We weren't expecting that. It must have been leaping from the tractor and grabbing a hen in passing.
MW
MW
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robo
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hi, Arnie its not our allotment with the problem but one near by , it is about a mile from us, they have lost a lot of chickens to them , some one is supposed to have seen one climbing the fence around the allotment, the story is that there was a mink farm in burtonwood which is about 5 miles away and some free the mink idiots let them loose
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oldherbaceous
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Dear MW, I was wondering if it could be a big old tom cat, but i have never known one to cover a chicken over before, so it kind of threw me.
Hope it doesn't come back.
Hope it doesn't come back.
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
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Motherwoman
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Hi OH,
Unfortunately it is coming back, at the moment it hasn't taken any more chickens. We do regular evening patrols and have placed some cord soaked in deisel across the front of the barn and scattered orange peel around as someone said that they don't the smell of both these things. We're even considering putting out some cheap tinned food to keep it full up!
The covering up threw us as well, we had thought stoat or large rat. If it's old of course that would explain the interest in static chickens over more mobile prey.
MW
Unfortunately it is coming back, at the moment it hasn't taken any more chickens. We do regular evening patrols and have placed some cord soaked in deisel across the front of the barn and scattered orange peel around as someone said that they don't the smell of both these things. We're even considering putting out some cheap tinned food to keep it full up!
The covering up threw us as well, we had thought stoat or large rat. If it's old of course that would explain the interest in static chickens over more mobile prey.
MW
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Westi
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MW they don't like walking on prickly things either - try some holly leaves in a barrier it can't jump over. Even more effective when they start drying out a bit & the pointy ends turn up slightly! Keeps mine off my salad bed at home! I put them on when I sow & the plants come up through it.
Westi
Westi
Westi
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oldherbaceous
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It would look quite festive, too. 
Kind Regards, Old Herbaceous.
There's no fool like an old fool.
There's no fool like an old fool.
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Motherwoman
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Just goes to show I'm daft really, we've been leaving out dog food for the pussy cat every night. Working on the theory that if his tum is full he won't take any more hens, it's working so far. 
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peter
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MW, do you ever go on holiday?
Thst was my first thought.
Thst was my first thought.
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Motherwoman
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Hi Peter,
I had to think how old number 3 son was and then worked out that I have not been on holiday for 22 years
Don't really care much, I enjoy living where I do and feel no desire to go anywhere else. I have been other places, Italy, France, Phillipines and lived in Brunei for a few months and the best thing for me was the ferry pulling into East Cowes and the sound of metal rigging hitting the masts on the yachts, just sounded like home. Even the smell of the seaweed on East Cowes beach was good!
I don't need to get a life... I have one.
MW
I had to think how old number 3 son was and then worked out that I have not been on holiday for 22 years
Don't really care much, I enjoy living where I do and feel no desire to go anywhere else. I have been other places, Italy, France, Phillipines and lived in Brunei for a few months and the best thing for me was the ferry pulling into East Cowes and the sound of metal rigging hitting the masts on the yachts, just sounded like home. Even the smell of the seaweed on East Cowes beach was good!I don't need to get a life... I have one.
MW
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alan refail
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Totally agree MW. If you live in the Isle of Wight who needs holidays? I feel the same way about Northwest Wales. Other people come here for holidays; we have it all year round
Cred air o bob deg a glywi, a thi a gei rywfaint bach o wir (hen ddihareb Gymraeg)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
Believe one tenth of what you hear, and you will get some little truth (old Welsh proverb)
I fully agree, MW and Alan. Many a time do my OH and I stand at our windows looking into he green and the sun shining on the moors behind and say, "why would we want to go on holiday anywhere when we can live here all the time?"
At this time of the year, when all the newspapers and supplements are full of offers for cruises, exotic holiday destinations and other 'delights', I just don't get it ..... I just think of queueing at airports, even sitting for hours in long train journeys (with, usually, rather unpleasant toilets on trains!), not for me, thank you.
At this time of the year, when all the newspapers and supplements are full of offers for cruises, exotic holiday destinations and other 'delights', I just don't get it ..... I just think of queueing at airports, even sitting for hours in long train journeys (with, usually, rather unpleasant toilets on trains!), not for me, thank you.