emmaw298 Posted December 8, 2010 Share Posted December 8, 2010 Hi there, I am so upset/annoyed/sad - my elderly hen Gloria, who I had been nursing in the warmth and feeding porridge to for the last few days, was this morning snatched and killed by something. I had only just popped her outside to go and join the others for the day and she was walking down to the free range gated section. I was only inside for 5 minutes and suddenly heard a big commotion - hens and ducks all going mad! Gloria was nowhere to be seen and after some searching and following a trail of blood and feathers, through next door's hedge and into the woods behind, I found her with her head missing but still intact. I feel so angry - she had only been out 5 minutes! We have had this happen once before (about a year ago) and we have CCTV and although I never be quite sure due to the clarity of the image, I had a feeling it was next door's cat. These images look to be the same animal, definitely cat sized. We found a wing and a foot last time but nothing else. The cat has been hanging around our garden a lot again recently, watching the chickens but always runs off when it sees us (or the dog!). I am quite sure that the cat is the guilty party again, although the removal of the head is also making me think perhaps mink as we live near a stream and are fairly rural. When I just returned to bag up the body, it had been disturbed and some of it insides eaten, the hole where the neck was was more hollowed out, and a bit of damage to the sides had been started. I had seen a bird of prey circling a short while ago, so it could have been that. Anyway, now I have ranted a bit I am really writing to ask for advice on how to make my fences higher. There is a section of the garden that contains the eglus and they free range in the garden there, but the fences are only 3 ft high. Can anybody please recommend where can I buy chicken wire/tall fencing that is 6ft or more, in order to make a walk in run? Thanks for your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plum Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 How awful, what about electric fencing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daphne Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 For a WIR you'll want weldmesh which is much stronger than chicken wire. I'd google for some cheap places and also look at the eglus/cubes and runs bit of this forum where there are pages and pages and pages (etc) of people's experiences and ideas which I'm sure you'll find helpful If it was a mink you'll need to be extra vigilant as they can get into small spaces. If it was a cat (or a fox) then you could also consider electric fencing as Plum says. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunty e Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Is next door's cat particularly violent? Ours have never bothered the chooks beyond a bit of staring and stalking, and when our half grown lioness of a serengeti tried to pounce on one, she was roundly seen off with a bit of nose pecking. That's not to say I can't imagine a particularly big and vicious cat taking a chook, more that I'd suspect some other small predator like a young fox or a mink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 It sounds like a mink - cats are usually scared of the chooks- and I've never know them show so much violence anyway with a kill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted December 9, 2010 Share Posted December 9, 2010 Could it have been a fox? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
