Chicken Predation Again

John in MD · Apr 8, 2016

Last month I posted about 12 hens missing in one evening, and I thought it was neighbors bird dogs. Well I got it straightened out with neighbor and he paid for hens. I now keep chickens in yard and close them in chicken house after dark. Last night I went out to dinner and didn't get home until 9:30, went to close hens in house and all 25 dead and dragged out of house and laying around yard. Inside of henhouse all torn up and feathers all over roosts broken or knocked over, even straw in laying boxes dug out.
My question is what can get over 6' chain link and kill 25 hens and only eat the head off of one and leave the rest? It's daylight and there's no hole under fence and no tracks in yard.
I threw all the hens in chicken house and left the chicken door (8" x12") open with a Connibear 220 set in doorway, I wonder what I'll catch.
I wonder if I should refund neighbors payment for last 12 hens?

jon f mn · Apr 8, 2016

Sounds like a weasel.

Dieselrider · Apr 8, 2016

Could be a coon or a weasel.

glennster · Apr 8, 2016

I d go with weasel, or seeing you are in the north east, a fisher cat.

ohiojim · Apr 8, 2016

invest in some trail cams,..

Traditional Farmer · Apr 8, 2016

Yea I'd bet on a Fisher, weasel usually only sucks blood.

John in MD · Apr 8, 2016

Will a weasel drag hens out of chicken house and leave them scattered around fenced yard? I guess I'll set some box traps this afternoon with cat food. I don't think a weasel would trip that Connibear trap.
Until I catch this thing I guess we'll be buying eggs.

Den N Ms · Apr 8, 2016

Check for tracks on the hen house floor,maybe you can identify what it was.Weasel,Coon ,Linx, Bob Cat

41106 · Apr 8, 2016

My guess would be a bobcat.....if it scattered the chickens around the yard that means it was big enough to get over the fence carrying the chickens, and eating the head only tends to be a cat thing. Good luck with your trap, and I second the idea of a trail camera.

Indiana Ken · Apr 8, 2016

I had a similar problem with chickens a few years back. The chickens (meat birds) were in the garden with a calf hut for shelter and cattle panels to provide outside space. The cattle panels had smaller openings for the bottom third of the panel.

First, I found the chickens injured but inside the fencing, later on I found them in the garden outside the fence. Never any tracks and the chickens were more tore up than eaten.

I set up a trail camera and did see a skunk, but there were no chickens harmed that night. The following day the chickens had an appointment at the processor.

John in MD · Apr 8, 2016

Straw on floor inside and I can't see any tracks outside even in soft dirt.

jCarroll · Apr 8, 2016

Was a mink (trail cam) in central Ohio.

Refund neighbors $$

RBoots · Apr 8, 2016

A buddy at work just had that happen to his chickens, 13 of them. A couple the first night, the rest the second night. After the first night, he put out a trail cam by the chicken house. He had a bunch of pictures of a weasel in there. On the same night he put the trail cam out, he went and bought the smallest live trap TSC sells and put that out, baited with chicken. He had a picture from the trailcam of the weasel inside the live trap, and then one of it squeezing through the 1" squares in the mesh it was built with. Even though the chickens have been gone for a week now, the weasel comes back every night. He wrapped the sides and back of the live trap with thin wood paneling, due to the trigger arrangement he couldn't put any on the door or the top of one side. He caught the little bigger again, but he made it out through the squares that he couldn't cover up. He made 2 small weasel boxes, baited with chicken, with 2 rat traps inside each one. For a few days now, he will get in there, set off both traps and take the chicken. My buddy now decided that he would mount the weasel boxes on a board and nail a sticky glue trap in front of the weasel boxes. His camera has a picture of the little guy stuck in the glue trap, but once again, he muscled his way off from it somehow. Joe said he must be bald now, because it looked like half of his hair was left on the glue trap, and it looked like a badger had went at it, it was so chewed up. He was asking the guys at work what he should do, or if anyone had any other ideas, as this weasel doesn't seem to be afraid of anything, but seems to be impossible to contain once caught. I suggested making a tunnel to the weasel box, a small tunnel, and covering all 4 sides with those sticky traps. When he gets caught on the one on the bottom, he will struggle and get caught in the others, hopefully slowing down his mobility. He hasn't had a chance to try it out yet, but we'll find out soon I guess.

Ross

bobwny · Apr 8, 2016

Weasel will do it for sport. Also can go under or thru your fence. Hen house has to be Weasel proof,not even tiny openings.

Bret4207 · Apr 8, 2016

Rat traps work good on weasels. Killing a dozen birds sounds more like a terrier type dog. Bobcats and Fishers tend to kill and carry off IME.

1370rod · Apr 8, 2016

We have had neighbors dogs kill our chickens several times, they seem to kill just for fun. The MO sure sounds like something a dog will do, but I sure can't explain how they would get by the fence.

John in MD · Apr 8, 2016

My box traps are crude 2x4 boxes with 1/4" rat wire with solid sheet metal doors. So far have been used to catch coons, foxes, groundhogs, possum and squirrels. I guess weasels are next.
Would a weasel kill 25 in one night?

tracto-man · Apr 8, 2016

Neighbor down the road from me used to have 100 chickens. A mink took the heads off 75 of them in one night. Does sound like a weasel to me. Maybe even a skunk? Another friend was loosing chickens and their dog found a skunk one night in the chicken coop.

El Toro · Apr 8, 2016

We had that problem on the farm. We caught a coon in a trap. A 22 bullet fixed that problem. Hal

Donald Lehman · Apr 8, 2016

Well, coons, mink and weasels were mentioned below. All three are likely possibilities. Of the three, my vote is on the weasel. Let us know if you figure it out.

Mike M · Apr 8, 2016

Just like on those Alaskan trapping shows. You have to have a box they go thru and have a connibear in there !

ss55 · Apr 8, 2016

Muskrat traps work well for mink and weasels, sometimes for smaller raccoons. 220 is a very large trap for a weasel, it probably will not trip unless the animal tries to drag a chicken through the trap. A 110 size would work better.

If all the eggs were eaten, it may have filled up on eggs.

Yes, I would refund the neighbor's payment.

jeffcat · Apr 8, 2016

Back maybe fifteen years ago on my folks farm they had a couple of huge coons show up. Took out everything in a couple of nights. Great big turds with berry seeds in them. Night vision goggles and a shotgun with a lot of shells. Take a look on ebay. The prices for the IR versions are not too bad. Read the discriptions. GO get em!

Dave H (MI) · Apr 8, 2016

I always like to credential myself first, so here goes...my first chickens came when I was five years old. Those were killed by a dog. In the decades since we have raised most types of poultry for show and also keep egg and meat chickens. During that time a lot of different predators have had a whack at us, so.....

First. The other incident is different from this one. Birds were carried off without a trace and dogs were implicated. No reason to assume this killer is the one who did the last killing.

Second. Six foot fence is high but some dogs can get over it. Not likely though. If you have a dog of your own, this is the first one I would look at if it was loose with the birds. After that you have to look at what could get inside the fence easily and is most common in your area. There are fishers out east but not thinking this is a common animal. Mink are common. Regular weasel is a tiny creature. Killing 25 chickens in short time would be asking a lot of a weasel. Members of weasel family leave a musky smell. Do you smell anything? I'll tell you what I think, and you can do what you want with it. 90 out of a 100 times it is a racoon. They kill everything they can catch, usually eat a bit of one chicken and then it is all about eating the heads. Can climb over anything and break into most anything. The debris scattered around was likely the chickens themselves trying to escape. Unless you keep your birds in a closed building with pens that have heavy wire on sides and top, you have to be there at dusk to close up. Everything else, including electric wires and those "red eye" devices, will eventually fail you.

jacksun65 · Apr 8, 2016

Had the same thing happen to me. It was a fisher cat. Tried to trap leg and live, tried poison just made him mad. Finally he got hit by a car. He scatterd them all over the yard and just ate the head off them.

ed will · Apr 8, 2016

Hi, About 5 yrs ago I had 56 chickens killed one night. It was January 2. The tracks were all over the snow. 2 bobcats dug under the gate on the chicken run then went in the little door to the chicken house. A few days later one was killed on the road. I tried to trap but they would kick debris over trap to spring it. So I tried a snare with dead chicken in a garbage can with a 20 lb weight hanging on the end of the snare cable from pulley on the ceiling with trigger mechanism. I checked the snare in the am. Expecting a bob cat as I noticed snare gone up.NOT.Ihave the dead chicken in the rafters.It must have took it from his mouth. Ed Will Oliver BC

RandyB(MI) · Apr 8, 2016

My niece and family just had same problem . Lost 7 out of 13 chickens they had for eggs. It was a pair of minks (they have webbed feet and weasles don't). Pretty brave too, as they met the 22. They figured that the minks just left the chickens because they couldn't pull the under the shed but I think they just go on a killing/feeding frenzie and get the goodies first and then come back for the "harder to get meat" later.

RBoots · Apr 8, 2016

No idea on that one. I can't say I've ever seen a weasel with my own eyes around here. I live along a river, lots of Mink around, maybe that and the wet ground keeps weasels away around here? I dunno

Ross

Al Baker(pumpman) · Apr 8, 2016

I have been around farm chickens for over forty years. For many years I raised 2000 plus each year for meat. I am no expert, but have seen a thing or two. First most "wild animals kill chickens for food. Not for fun. Animals killing for food only do what is necessary to fill their need. Minks will always kill by biting the chicken in the neck, then stacking them up. Sounds silly but true. An owl will always pull the head off the chicken to kill it. Wings and heads lying around but no body equals owl. A coon or fox will take their meal with them and leave. Almost all animals will go back to where the meal or fun was easy. I dont know enough about what the chickens looked like,or how they where killed, but would lean towards dogs. Skunks or coon, or even rats will steal eggs, but not rut up the nests. I would guess there was to much damage for an animal looking for a meal. I guess a dog, or dogs looking for entertainment.

Dieselbreath · Apr 8, 2016

1st thought: a dog can go over a 6 ft high fence. Had a the neighbors german shepard scale the fence to get to my female dog in heat.
2nd thought: Your chicken loss could be due to some racoons. I had a fully wire enclosed chicken coop where I heard a commotion one night and when I went out to see what was going on found one (fainted) chicken lying on the ground. After shining my light up a nearby tree and seeing four eyeballs looking at me that promptly came down the tree and tried to follow me in the house. It was racoons, my guess was they had scaled the chicken coop, got to the top and reached down and got the roosting chicken by the throat and nearly throttled it. If your chicken coop is open on the top you are just asking for trouble.

Rick Kr · Apr 8, 2016

I have dealt with this more than once.
In my case it was a mink, he would kill at least 10 chickens at a time.
I had the mink on trail cam, seen him running around, and verified his tracks in the snow.
This is Mid-Michigan.

Odd thing, when I had ducks, he wouldnt mess with them.

Rick

Stephen Newell · Apr 8, 2016

Some dogs can climb over a fence. I have a 6' chain link fence around my yard and I have to keep our dog on a line to keep him in the yard. If I took him off the line he would go over or dig under the fence within 30 minutes. You might have to get a game camera to solve the mystery.

ed will · Apr 8, 2016

Hi, About 5 yrs ago I had 56 chickens killed one night. It was January 2. The tracks were all over the snow. 2 bobcats dug under the gate on the chicken run then went in the little door to the chicken house. A few days later one was killed on the road. I tried to trap but they would kick debris over trap to spring it. So I tried a snare with dead chicken in a garbage can with a 20 lb weight hanging on the end of the snare cable from pulley on the ceiling with trigger mechanism. I checked the snare in the am. Expecting a bob cat as I noticed snare gone up.NOT.Ihave the dead chicken in the rafters.It must have took it from his mouth. Ed Will Oliver BC

stonerock · Apr 8, 2016

good point dieselbreath,lost 40 chickens in 2-3 nights Iam not a slow learner put a chicken wire ceiling in the pin never lost any more, been 5 years now only you can protect your anamals. don't let the neighbors dogs come over, do what you have to do

Galen Houk · Apr 8, 2016

I had a bunch of chickens killed one night, not eaten, just killed. I set a jaw trap and caught a very pregnant skunk. The skunk didn't survive my 22.

Chicken Predation Again

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