- Location
- Hertfordshire
My foray into a very small chicken enterprise has not gone well, as all eight chickens from the first hatch have disappeared.
They hatched on 1st June so were reasonably well grown. They were in a pen that had electric netting round the outside.
When I went to check on them a few days ago there were only seven, not eight in the pen. I scoured right round the field they were in and around the surrounding area but there wasn’t any sign. No bird, no obviouspile of feathers etc.
Next day, same again, down to six birds, again no sign. Electric fence still in place, no gaps underneath, no sign of digging.
Next day, down to four.... and finally yesterday there were zero! I did see a buzzard flying away from a nearby tree last night. Could a buzzard be responsible? Wouldn’t it leave a sign, feathers, blood etc? It’s definitely not humans, given where the pen is and given the electric fence.
Any thoughts?
(PS my second batch of 28 eggs were incubating nicely until day 19, when the temperature in the shed rose to 40C+ and cooked all but three of the developing embryos - very sad. Maybe I’m not cut out to be a chicken farmer....
They hatched on 1st June so were reasonably well grown. They were in a pen that had electric netting round the outside.
When I went to check on them a few days ago there were only seven, not eight in the pen. I scoured right round the field they were in and around the surrounding area but there wasn’t any sign. No bird, no obviouspile of feathers etc.
Next day, same again, down to six birds, again no sign. Electric fence still in place, no gaps underneath, no sign of digging.
Next day, down to four.... and finally yesterday there were zero! I did see a buzzard flying away from a nearby tree last night. Could a buzzard be responsible? Wouldn’t it leave a sign, feathers, blood etc? It’s definitely not humans, given where the pen is and given the electric fence.
Any thoughts?
(PS my second batch of 28 eggs were incubating nicely until day 19, when the temperature in the shed rose to 40C+ and cooked all but three of the developing embryos - very sad. Maybe I’m not cut out to be a chicken farmer....