New Year's Day Massacer!!!

[happyfrenchman]

http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Shadow-of-Hawk-1.html

Jammy... this is the mink/weasel story.

 

[chickflick]

So sorry for your losses!! It's heartbreaking! A lot of work and love goes into raising our chickens, and it hurts like hell to find them killed like that.

 

[shmccarthy]

That is almost without a doubt the work of a fox. A fox will without a doubt attack during the day. A fox will take as many as it can, making multiple trips, and bury the prey. The fox does this because they're extremely opportunistic hunters and don't know when their next meal is. They bury their food near the den for later meals. A fox will attack from behind, going in for a swift kill. This leaves only a pile of feathers at most. You may also find trails of feathers as the fox carries away the prey.
Definitely not mink, definitely not any birds of prey and I can almost guarantee it isn't raccoon or possum.
Mink/weasel attack the back of neck and head area, sucking the bills and feasting on some flesh. They do not acquire the strength to drag off a chicken, let alone multiple.
Birds of prey will swoop near or on the prey, usually eating it alive. :/ unless it is a very small animal, they seldom carry off their prey and will eat it on the spot. A hawk carrying off a regular sized chicken is like strapping an f150 to the landing gear of a piper plane and expecting it to take off, it just doesn't work.
Dogs (roaming/domestic) don't usually eat the birds. Most dog on flock attacks that I read about are dogs that are allowed to wander and they all seem to happen the same way. The dog sees the chickens and wants to either "play" or the prey drive kicks in and the dog "plays" the chicken to death. The dog will usually grab and shake an leave a lot of feathers everywhere but after the bird is dead, they move onto the next one. Dog may be a possibility, but I would expect you to find more bodies if so.
A raccoon or opossum will typically attack at night, although daytime attacks can happen too. They will pull the chickens off the roost and kill them pretty violently. There is a lot of blood and feathers when they attack. They eat the head most of the time and will also eat entrails and breast meat. Both eat prey on the spot and will seldom drag off kills. Raccoons and possums have been known to kill for sport and will leave bodies scattered about.
I have read a lot about attacks on poultry and have first hand experience with some of the attacks myself, unfortunately. Hopefully that may rule out some possibilities for you.
I can almost guarantee that you have a fox that went after the chickens. I had a daytime fox come and get 7 of my hens that were free ranging. I noticed her run glancing out the window and when she saw me, she dropped one of my leghorns and was gone in a second. The hen was still alive when I got to her but sadly her injuries were too severe and she died about 10 minutes later. :/ All I found from them were just a few piles of feathers in the yard, no more than 10 feet from the front door. The next day I let them out but I stood next to the door and supervised them free ranging. I had my gun next to me in case the fox came back. Sure enough, she came literally out of nowhere and jumped on one of my hens and went straight for her neck. My hen freaked out and I grabbed my gun. The fox ended up missing the hen and took off so fast I couldn't get a shot at her. I had to stop free ranging after that..A few weeks later, my neighbor came over and gave me all her egg cartons. She said a fox killed all her chickens but one and she came home to the fox running out of her yard with a hen in its mouth. About a month later, another neighbor on the street came over with his egg cartons and the same thing happened to him. The fox never got caught despite all of our efforts to trap/shoot it. Maybe the ones that you found were able to get away before the predator could get to them and hid somewhere?

 

[luckychik]

Luckychik... multiple kills around the yard.... chickens probably fled the yard.... half eaten carcasses. Not a wild animal M.O... it sounds like dogs to me too. An inexperienced, but bloodthirsty dog. That is terrible. I would look for stray dogs in your neighborhood. That is very sad and I am sorry. It hurts even though you know it is iI hope you get a good shot.

(Edit) I see you got a picture of a dog.... that would be your #1 suspect I would think. I personally have an animus toward pit bulls. The dogs themselves and some of the people that keep them make a deadly combination that the breeds numerous defenders seem to overlook when they insist how wonderful they are.

This one looked really skinny. I have never seen it before. I let my chickens out today and watched from the window with a gun near. I am sorry if anyone is offended by me shooting a dog ect. but I am sick of this! I started out with 50 chickens in July and I am down to 20!!!!! It just makes me mad!!!!

 

[luckychik]

That is almost without a doubt the work of a fox. A fox will without a doubt attack during the day. A fox will take as many as it can, making multiple trips, and bury the prey. The fox does this because they're extremely opportunistic hunters and don't know when their next meal is. They bury their food near the den for later meals. A fox will attack from behind, going in for a swift kill. This leaves only a pile of feathers at most. You may also find trails of feathers as the fox carries away the prey.
Definitely not mink, definitely not any birds of prey and I can almost guarantee it isn't raccoon or possum.
Mink/weasel attack the back of neck and head area, sucking the bills and feasting on some flesh. They do not acquire the strength to drag off a chicken, let alone multiple.
Birds of prey will swoop near or on the prey, usually eating it alive.

unless it is a very small animal, they seldom carry off their prey and will eat it on the spot. A hawk carrying off a regular sized chicken is like strapping an f150 to the landing gear of a piper plane and expecting it to take off, it just doesn't work.
Dogs (roaming/domestic) don't usually eat the birds. Most dog on flock attacks that I read about are dogs that are allowed to wander and they all seem to happen the same way. The dog sees the chickens and wants to either "play" or the prey drive kicks in and the dog "plays" the chicken to death. The dog will usually grab and shake an leave a lot of feathers everywhere but after the bird is dead, they move onto the next one. Dog may be a possibility, but I would expect you to find more bodies if so.
A raccoon or opossum will typically attack at night, although daytime attacks can happen too. They will pull the chickens off the roost and kill them pretty violently. There is a lot of blood and feathers when they attack. They eat the head most of the time and will also eat entrails and breast meat. Both eat prey on the spot and will seldom drag off kills. Raccoons and possums have been known to kill for sport and will leave bodies scattered about.
I have read a lot about attacks on poultry and have first hand experience with some of the attacks myself, unfortunately. Hopefully that may rule out some possibilities for you.
I can almost guarantee that you have a fox that went after the chickens. I had a daytime fox come and get 7 of my hens that were free ranging. I noticed her run glancing out the window and when she saw me, she dropped one of my leghorns and was gone in a second. The hen was still alive when I got to her but sadly her injuries were too severe and she died about 10 minutes later.

All I found from them were just a few piles of feathers in the yard, no more than 10 feet from the front door. The next day I let them out but I stood next to the door and supervised them free ranging. I had my gun next to me in case the fox came back. Sure enough, she came literally out of nowhere and jumped on one of my hens and went straight for her neck. My hen freaked out and I grabbed my gun. The fox ended up missing the hen and took off so fast I couldn't get a shot at her. I had to stop free ranging after that..A few weeks later, my neighbor came over and gave me all her egg cartons. She said a fox killed all her chickens but one and she came home to the fox running out of her yard with a hen in its mouth. About a month later, another neighbor on the street came over with his egg cartons and the same thing happened to him. The fox never got caught despite all of our efforts to trap/shoot it. Maybe the ones that you found were able to get away before the predator could get to them and hid somewhernothing at this point would surprise me. What ever it was, was very hungry! The piles of feathers were scattered from my house to about a block away where I found the 3 chickens! I really think maybe more than just one animal? Whatever it is........my gun is by my door!
nothing at this point would surprise me. What ever it was, was very hungry! The piles of feathers were scattered from my house to about a block away where I found the 3 chickens! I really think maybe more than just one animal? Whatever it is........my gun is by my door!

 

[happyfrenchman]

This one looked really skinny. I have never seen it before. I let my chickens out today and watched from the window with a gun near. I am sorry if anyone is offended by me shooting a dog ect. but I am sick of this! I started out with 50 chickens in July and I am down to 20!!!!! It just makes me mad!!!!

You would get no complaint from me if you blast it. I wish you good hunting. Do what you can to improve your chances... Good luck.

 

[luckychik]

You would get no complaint from me if you blast it. I wish you good hunting. Do what you can to improve your chances... Good luck.

 

[shoregirl68]

My understanding of MO's...for my area are:

Fox: lots of feathers, no carcass...they take it back to the den but will continue to come back. The usually only hunt at dusk, sometimes dawn. Will hunt during day only during pup season which for us is November-ish

Owl: only eats head, leaves carcass

Eagle: disappearing act, no sign of anything, picks up bird and flies off with

Hawk: eats breasts and leaves remaining carcass

Raccoon/opossum: no idea

Biggest predator for us: neighbors retarded dog (I should call the neighbor retarded for not controlling the dog): lots of feathers everywhere, "hunts day or night", plays with carcass until dead and leaves entire bloody thing lying there like used up chew toy

We do not have coyotes or bobcats in our area but I would imagine their MO is similar to a fox, shake and run, so lots of feathers but not a lot of blood or other evidence

 

[Spanishchick]

Well if you do shoot the dog bury it because if it belongs to someone you can get sued. Around here anyways.

 

[luckychik]

Sure thing!