16 guineas slaughtered

[critters]

Leaving 10 guineas of my 26 breeding ...aa few heads were missing and 2 had their heads pulled thru the fence where the wire was pulled open so something could get thru the chain link fencing.. any ideas as to what it is? Weasel maybe?

 

[chooks4life]

Weasel I expect would have gone through the fencing without an issue, could be one of those. Foxes in pairs hunt caged birds the same though, one fox scaring them to the other side of the cage where they stick their heads through the mesh and the next fox then beheads/decrops them.

Best wishes.

 

[dekel18042]

Sounds like something a raccoon or raccoons would do. There could be more than one and they use their front feet like hands to pull parts of chicken through a wire.

 

[critters]

Several of the dead guinea were in middle of the pen also along with most being along the doubled fencing

 

[mommaguinea]

Are the ones in the middle bitten or damaged in any way? I have had the beheading also and I beleive it to be foxes. I put smaller wire around the bottom of the pens to prevent the birds from sticking heads through when frightened.

 

[critters]

The ones in the middle seemed to have broken necks maybe...nothing visable. My pen is made of chain link fencing with chicken wire over that..1/2 inch spacing.

 

[chooks4life]

The ones in the middle could have just ended up there due to post-death activity i.e. the flapping, jumping, struggling etc many birds do after death. X2 what mommaguinea said --- you really need that finer mesh around the lower parts of the cages for precisely this reason.

Best wishes.

 

[margaret8]

The ones in the middle seemed to have broken necks maybe...nothing visable. My pen is made of chain link fencing with chicken wire over that..1/2 inch spacing.

Do you have anything over the top of you pen
? That is a big access point!

 

[critters]

I have double netting covering the entire top and since my lose I have added a third layer..much finer....down around the bottom of the pen..All around. With about 6 inches in the ground.

 

[margaret8]

Coons can chew through any thing but metal l. I have chain link all around and chicken wire stretched across I also have about 4' of chicken wire on the sides. The bottom of the chicken wire is stapled to the railroad tie.