First death possibly due to weasel.

Allisha

Songster
7 Years
Mar 2, 2013
170
12
114
Our coop door for the chickens to get in and out froze, and caused a large crack to appear so something could slip inside. Earlier today the chickens started making a warning call, but quickly quited down. Our husky saw something, however, but we thought nothing of it. Unfortunately, just a tiny while ago, we found a dead chicken, stiff as a board. There were no dead chickens this morning, so it must have happened shortly after we fed them and left for the day.

We found footprints that circled the coop multiple times, and it DID get into the run. By our observations and the size of the hole, we believe that it was a weasel. We managed to close everything off, so is it worth setting out a trap if the predator can not get inside?

Also, out of curiosity, the chicken did NOT seem to have it's head off(although it was really hard to tell), and there was not any blood. Is there any possible way one of our three roosters managed to drive it off? I have a niggling suspicion they are not any help in warding off anything.

I have heard multiple stories that once a weasel got inside, you can see damage CLEARLY to dead chickens, and that more than one is normally killed. Is this true?
 
Our coop door for the chickens to get in and out froze, and caused a large crack to appear so something could slip inside. Earlier today the chickens started making a warning call, but quickly quited down. Our husky saw something, however, but we thought nothing of it. Unfortunately, just a tiny while ago, we found a dead chicken, stiff as a board. There were no dead chickens this morning, so it must have happened shortly after we fed them and left for the day.

We found footprints that circled the coop multiple times, and it DID get into the run. By our observations and the size of the hole, we believe that it was a weasel. We managed to close everything off, so is it worth setting out a trap if the predator can not get inside?

Also, out of curiosity, the chicken did NOT seem to have it's head off(although it was really hard to tell), and there was not any blood. Is there any possible way one of our three roosters managed to drive it off? I have a niggling suspicion they are not any help in warding off anything.

I have heard multiple stories that once a weasel got inside, you can see damage CLEARLY to dead chickens, and that more than one is normally killed. Is this true?


Sorry about that :( as someone who has lost pet chickens to several different predators, I can say that it does not sound like a weasel. Raccoons can get into small holes too. Weasels make clean cuts of the head, foxes take the whole bird, and raccoons make a mess. They try and bite the head off, and they are sometimes not successful
 
If it was a weasel I would recommend setting a trap because it will probably find another way in. You could just use a rat trap with a bloody piece of meat as bait.

Roosters have been known to scare away some predators but they would be theno match for a weasel. In other words there is know way they will stop a weasel if they try the will probably die. They may be small but are evil little beasts.

And for you last question weasels make little damage. They will bite the back of the neck and suck all the blood out usually leaving the rest of the bird.
 
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Thanks for responding ^^
there was very little damage on her, and really it only seemed like she died a natural death.
but all of our chickens are healthy, and we know for a fact a weasel got inside.
 
She is, in fact, missing a head.
We found the head in the coop at the death site, with no feathers on it.
The weasel (we assume) tried getting in again about an hour ago but was unsuccessful.
 

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