Mystery Predator

Could your predator be a bobcat? Sounds like some kind of cat thing to hide the kill. We are having an increase in their numbers in Washington State.

I've heard from our London friends that foxes have become so tamed and bold as to enter houses and attack people. The best thing people can do for wild animals is to keep them wild. The tamed ones get run over, trapped, or shot.

Raccoons are the worst chicken predators in our area of Seattle. People who don't have anything to protect tend to feed them, starting a bad cycle of predators that associate easy eats with people's backyards. We have a six foot orchard fence around our property, then a chicken corral, and finally, a coop like Fort Knox with an automatic poultry door that works most of the time. Since our security upgrades, our animal losses have been minimal. My husband says our eggs are the most expensive chicken eggs he has ever eaten.

Raccoon attack usually occur at dusk, just as your chickens are going to roost. Their modus operandi is to grab, drag a short distance away, devour the breast meat, come back later to eat the rest. I have had the best luck using the carcass to bait a live trap. As unpleasant as it is to kill a raccoon, relocating it makes it become someone else's problem and they become tamed by this exposure to people. Besides, your car or truck is going to stink when you transport a terrified, angry wild animal in it. Also, it is illegal in this state. Sign me, learned the hard way!

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Maybe a human?
Build a moat around your pen. That would help.

All kidding aside, I would put an electric fence up that will shock the hell out of any predator and send it packing. The fencing should not allow the predator to dig under it. This is accomplished by bending the bottom part of the wire fencing material at 90 degrees and have it stick out one foot, along the ground outside the pen. Bury that wire. The predator will not know to dig out beyond one foot.
Good luck!

So sorry for your loss... i agree with the others, i have heard that foxes will bury their prey & continue hunting & come back for it later. Cats have been noted to do the same (bobcat maybe? )but I'd think that a cat would leave more of a mess. There is a youtube video i've seen of a fox burying prey. Hope you find out what it is.

Weasel. I had a weasel take 3 of my girls last winter in the coop over a period of 3 nights. Finally got a live trap baited with chicken livers....caught it and my son took care of the rest.

We had the same thing; half eaten chickens buried in the coop. Turned out to be a Fisher which a a member of the weasel family. He must of got in via the roof through the ventilation window. I thought it was high enough not to worry about. We put a mesh wire over the window and will try again with new chickens.

So ... Did you catch/kill anymore of the thieving varmints?

I initially thought big cat, but could be a fisher cat ... I know you caught five foxes on your property, and shot two of them ... They maybe the guilty ones, or just happened by at the "wrong" time ...

I live in west Texas. We have to use raccoon predictor traps. They don't make snap traps large enough. And yes ours can get 6" - 7" and that's without the tail. And just like ants, they can move mountains.

If you used chicken wire on your coop, you'll need to beef it up. Chicken wire only does one thing and that is keep chickens in the coop. It will not keep predators out. For that, you'll need to use hardware cloth of at least 1/2" or 1/4" dimension. Predators can't get through it. The toughest predator is the 'coon. He can open any kind of lock except the screen door latch with the spring on it. I use two on my entrance door, one high, one low. It works for grandkids, too. I'm sorry for your losses.