Tell How Predators Got Your Chickens. Save Somebody Else From The Bad Experience

[bruceha2000]

We don't have weasels. We do have raccoons. opossums, bobcat and coyotes (and dogs). The Larger animals probably aren't going to bother coming to the barn with the horses there, but the racoons and opossums have no boundaries. The coons are masters at tree climbing, so I have no doubts that they can scale a wall and climb over the top of the coop.

You may not have SEEN them but you HAVE them:
http://collections.burkemuseum.org/mamwash/carnivora.php

We saw an Ermine (short tailed weasel) near the house in the fall 2 years ago. Cutest ****** thing, pure white but the black tip on the tail, black eyes and nose.. Then I went down to the barn and covered the dirt floor of the chicken coop with 1/2" hardware cloth run up the sides and poultry stapled. Then put the horse mats back down.

Bruce

 

[ochochicas]

You may not have SEEN them but you HAVE them:
http://collections.burkemuseum.org/mamwash/carnivora.php

We saw an Ermine (short tailed weasel) near the house in the fall 2 years ago. Cutest ****** thing, pure white but the black tip on the tail, black eyes and nose.. Then I went down to the barn and covered the dirt floor of the chicken coop with 1/2" hardware cloth run up the sides and poultry stapled. Then put the horse mats back down.

Bruce

Good to know. The night-time coop has a concrete foundation and solid 8 foot high walls (it used to be a horse stall). The top is open on 2 sides, but I'll be working on enclosing it this weekend. The "babies" are getting big, and stinky, it is just about time for them to head outside for good.

Will a weasel kill a full grown chicken?

 

[EeyoreD]

Bruce - indeed. And this is common (I've done it myself). You don't see a predator so you don't think you have them.

And yes, ochochicas, a weasel will absolutely kill a full grow chicken.

I didn't think I had them either until I walked out one afternoon last spring (yes, afternoon) and found one latched on to my 12 pound scovy drake. I think the only thing that saved the drake was me whacking the weasel with a stick and just pure luck.

Again, weasels (mink, mustelids in general) are sneaky and fast. What they do is sneak up behind an animal, bound out and bite it on the back of the neck. If they can catch the animal unawares and get the bite right, this will often instantly sever the spinal cord and kill it. If they miss the bite, they won't give up. They'll get a grip with their feet and try to readjust the bite. Because even if they miss the first time, they're generally still on the prey's back so there's not much the prey can do to protect themselves or get the stinking thing off.

They may not have a chance to eat it before you catch them, but they can kill incredibly fast and efficiently and a chicken is nothing to them.

edit: In a coop situation, they use their "hands" much like raccoons and will grab through wire. Also, the stinking things and wriggle through astoundingly small holes (which is why you want the hardware cloth and not field fence on your coop if they're around).

 

[EeyoreD]

We saw an Ermine (short tailed weasel) near the house in the fall 2 years ago. Cutest ****** thing, pure white but the black tip on the tail, black eyes and nose.. Then I went down to the barn and covered the dirt floor of the chicken coop with 1/2" hardware cloth run up the sides and poultry stapled. Then put the horse mats back down.

Bruce

Mustelids (I'm sure you know but in case others don't - mink, weasel, polecat, ferrets, fishers, ermine, martens, etc) really are adorable. But more vicious and focused - not to mention harder to trap - than coons.

Speaking of - after hearing a friend in New England tell me about fishers, I'm SO GLAD they're not native to here. I was sent a YouTube of the "crying baby" sounds they make in the night and it creeped me right the heck out.

(can't find the original video I saw but here's one for those that haven't heard it:

)

 

[Nocila]

Back when we had our old coop, we lost 17 in one night to a weasel. They were piled up (plus a few scattered here and there), and didn't look like they had been attacked by anything. Weasels can get into really small spaces, so even the smallest hole needs to be covered somehow. Now, in our new coop, we have a cement floor, and lock the birds up every night to avoid an attack.

We've also lost a few to a bear, who managed to break our door (it was a pretty thin door). We ended up putting a real door on our new coop to avoid that problem in the future.

 

[Maxwellbill]

I had 9 pekin ducks killed in one night. All that was eaten was the guts
Not the head or the breast just the guts anyone know what would do that. The ducks was 3 weeks old. And I live in North Carolina.

 

[TDY in E Texas]

We raised chicks from 2001-2003 and in that time I killed 14 raccoon, 12 possum, a 6 ft. rat snake (he was living in the coop eating eggs) in Georgia. That may seem like a lot, but 1 raccoon killed 20 pullets in one night. We live in East Texas now and we have more open ground with the addition of coyote, hawks, fox, and pigs along with the raccoon, possum and even more kinds of snakes.

If I had the money, my coop would have a cement footer with the chain link fence embedded into the concrete. Since I don't, I fence stapled the fence to railroad ties along the base. My dogs seem to help also. Not many animals will come in the yard with them barking. They understand (most of the time) that the chickens are off limits for playing so they can "free range" together.

I didn't notice anyone mentioning possum as a predator, believe me, they are. If you find chickens with just the head gone, that is a possum.

We have only lost one chicken since we got to Texas, and we are not sure what happened. She was acting kind of sick for a few hours and we brought her inside to keep an eye on her. she didn't make it through the night. We thought it might have been something she eat or a snake bite.

I'm sure mother nature will provide more stories to add as time goes on.... I'll be back!

 

[Nocila]

I always thought headless birds were the raccoons... If they are possums, then we've had a run in or two with those as well...

 

[stewartfamof5]

We lost 5 over the course of a week to a Great Horned Owl. We know it was an owl because we put fishing line over the open yard and she got trapped in the yard. She would rip off their heads and eat their insides. It was really gross.

 

[TDY in E Texas]

Our first predator in Texas shows up the day after I post that we haven't lost anything to one any... kinda weird. He only got one egg, hope he enjoyed it since he has no head anymore..