10 week old chick dead (graphic pictures)

[LaurenRitz]

Last night she was alive. She screams she's being murdered all the time so I ignored the noise last night.

This morning her head is gone and her abdomen torn out, most of her organs gone.

I found where it entered the coop, and I'll fix that today. The hole is about 3x3, right by the door, at the one point where there's no underground wire into the coop itself.

I'm assuming a rat? Whatever it was chewed right through the pelvic bones to get to the organs, ate the head, but left the rest of the body intact.

What else might it have been? Does this sound like a rat?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

What else might it have been?

Sorry for your loss.

Skunk, raccoon, opossum (maybe fisher or other weasel family member) would be my top suspects. See if the following links helps you narrow it down at all..


https://poultry.extension.org/artic...gement-for-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks/

https://homesteadontherange.com/2022/11/15/chicken-predators-in-kansas-opossums-raccoons/

https://ouroneacrefarm.com/2015/03/15/poultry-predator-identification-a-guide-to-tracks-and-sign/

 

[LaurenRitz]

Thanks. Looks like most likely opossum or weasel, with raccoon coming in next. Rat is possible but unlikely according to this information.

I'm going to get that hole plugged today. Since most of the coop is metal siding buried 12 inches in the ground, that little gap by the door slipped by me.

 

[LaurenRitz]

It looks like this is going to take more work. I blocked it on the inside, but on the outside there's a built-in shelf on that corner. It needs to come off before I can do anything permanent.

I put a cinderblock right there, with a board underneath until I can fix the hole.

 

[lagrange chicks]

The hole looks to small for a coon and what the ate was more than a weasel could eat. My guess would be a mink, do you have creek or pond near by?

 

[LaurenRitz]

Possum. I went out this morning and it was sleeping in the corner of the coop. My guess is, either it was in the run and came in when I opened up, or it slept in the coop yesterday, possibly behind the nest boxes, so it could finish its meal last night.

I have to leave here in about two minutes, so I upended a bucket over it with a brick on top and I'll get rid of it later.

 

[lagrange chicks]

Glad u found the culprit.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Possum. I went out this morning and it was sleeping in the corner of the coop. My guess is, either it was in the run and came in when I opened up, or it slept in the coop yesterday, possibly behind the nest boxes, so it could finish its meal last night.

I have to leave here in about two minutes, so I upended a bucket over it with a brick on top and I'll get rid of it later.

Well that definitely narrows it down. I’m glad you caught it!

 

[WingsysRoost]

I'm sorry for your loss. I'm glad you figured out what it was.