2nd found dead in pen in 2 weeks- graphic pic!

[Sydney65]

I’ve lost a few ducks on my ponds to a hawk and a bobcat. I got on the waterfowl forums then, wondering if adding a goose would help protect the ducks. The consensus was that the goose would fall prey to whatever was eating the ducks, and that they require more specialized housing than what I wanted to provide. I do think people keep watch geese, but that seems a little redundant when I have guinea fowl! My guineas have gotten to be better watchdogs as they’ve gotten older. The last time that a bobcat went for a duck, the guineas gave me plenty of warning first.

I think geese are great watch dogs when, as you said, they can see. The neighbor had one that chased my nephew up the hill and into his house every day when he'd get off the bus. Nipped him in the bum more than once!

 

[R2elk]

I think geese are great watch dogs when, as you said, they can see. The neighbor had one that chased my nephew up the hill and into his house every day when he'd get off the bus. Nipped him in the bum more than once!

My geese were better watch dogs than the guineas are. Whenever my geese alarmed, it was a legitimate alarm and they would alarm at any time of the day or night.

My geese were not people aggressive. They would not come within 20 feet of me.

 

[GeeseMama]

Oh the weasels...my favorite of the predators.... furry little demons from hell! I battled a Mink with my mixed flock and let me tell you from experience the are almost impossible to stop. They can get through a 1.5 to 2 inch gap. They follow rodent holes into pens. They dig there own way and climb just as well. I don't have experience with the weasels you mentioned but as far as mink or even the small Marten, they are devastating. Geese won't help because after they are done killing all of your guineas or chickens they will move on to try the geese. They will kill anything they can and even if they can't kill it they will try their best leaving nasty deep wounds. The best you can do is try to bury hardware cloth and cover ALL of the fencing around the pen with it as well. Not just two foot. They have no problem scaling a fence. You'll have to make sure the roofing is covered in it as well. Any (even miniscule) gaps in wood or metal of the pen need to be covered as well. And even then, eventually it will find a way back in... Which leads me to trapping which I was totally opposed to before. We've tried gopher traps conabears and live traps. They are a pain to try to trap. And when we used the conabears we ended up catching a skunk that dang near died and ended with me throwing out clothes and gloves and shoes because I was not going to let that happen and freed him. So you have to be willing to trap and kill whatever gets in them to get the mink or weasel. They are leary of anything new. The one thing that did help is a night light. We installed a spot light inside the pen. And are currently trying to get some muskrat meat to bait the live traps with because the trapper's we spoke with said that is the only thing that works. They love little holes to explore so you can set a trap in something like that you may fair better.
Unfortunately your picture does look like that is what happened. I zoomed in and can see some trauma to the neck area feathers as well. That's usually their first target. I wish you the best of luck and hope your guineas stay safe. Only other advice I have is to buy a shot gun. I would've already sat out and waited for our mink with one if it wasn't -10 degrees