8 coons down and still losing hens

[Skyhead22]

After our first attack I set traps all around our coop. We killed 8 coons in about two weeks and didn't catch anything else. About a month later we found 3 dead hens inside the locked coop. 2 drug into a corner the other under a feeder on the wall, all missing their heads. I set more traps. The next night one hour before sunset something attacked them in the coop and run killing 4 total. One with its neck wedged through te fence missing its head the others all headless and one drug under the coop ramp. We made sure to lock them up 2 hours before sunset the next night. That night 3 more were killed. Two of them had their heads pulled into a 1" to 2" opening at the bottom of the wall the third right next to them. One had part of its breast gone all were headless. I'm now down to one barred rock hen and a turkey. (which has a badly broken wing). They both stay around my porch now with the mastiff and cat safely. It's really hard to believe rats would kill that much. It has to be a weasel or mink. I set rat traps, small havahart traps and put loads of poison out and I haven't got a single thing in a week now. I used chicken liver and blood for bait, car food, raw hamburger and peanut butter in the rat traps. All I have is one small dead mouse from te poison. I have seen a rat in the coop that's when I moved the feed to a bin but never expected a rat to harm a chiken until allthis happened and i researched it. How on earth do I catch the culprit? What is the most likely chicken killer here?

 

[Nelson-90]

if you are using chicken wire is not good cause the raccons work in teams and one will scare them to a corner and the other one will eat them and then theyll switch you want to change for half inch hardware cloth wich is way better

 

[Skyhead22]

It could have been coons that got them in the daylight in the run. I have 1x2" welded wire 6' tall. I just never expected something to attack them before dark I was shocked. But the two nights of attacks in the coop it is impossible for a coon to get in. The largest opening is almost 2 inches and it leads into a room divider that is 6 inches wide. The other half of the building has some straw in it. Whatever killed them in the coop has to be able to fit through a 2 inch opening

 

[Skyhead22]

The opening I'm talking about is the bottom wall board ends before it reaches the floor. They are 1x6 boards for the wall spaced an inch apart for better ventilation for the center divider in the building. It's a rectangle mirror image building. One side coop the other side straw storage.

 

[Nelson-90]

the coons can open latches very easily and the just need to get their paws trought the wire and thats it and they can chew trougth things also migth think bout coyotes

 

[Nelson-90]

their migth also be a hole somewhere

 

[Nelson-90]

you migth also want to trench the coop a foot deep and put hardware cloth and put rock around it that should solve the ground issue

 

[Aschenfire]

Tiny little coyotes to get through 1 x 2" wire

Yeah, it sounds like something that is running your birds into the sides/corners of the fence and then attacking them. I would suspect some sort of weasel or smaller animal too though, since they are getting into the pen thru the wire. I'm not sure what the best weasel bait is. I know ferrets like jingly cat toys, but given the choice between yummy chicken dinner or a shiny jingleball, wild weasels might still choose chicken. :/

I'd either get some chicken wire to layer over the existing welded wire, or hardware cloth to do the same. I think chicken wire would work since you already have the welded wire base. It would be small enough to keep furry predators out

 

[centrarchid]

In a situation such as this where losses so quick and consistent to an unknown, sit out in dark with comfortable lawn chair, flashlight and low power rifle. You should be able to ID predator(s), determine how coop is accessed, understand how predator operates and possibly kill one. If you have a number of birds and varmints are that regular, then consider dog. I have traps almost constantly but dog is by far more sensitive detector and removal system. Even a medium sized dog can be a good alarm system for raccoons. Sometimes you also need to be prepared to actively engage predator when it visits. Too many losses are incurred because we go inside and fail to respond when birds are screaming bloody murder. I sleep with door / window open during production season and assist dog when predator can not be reached such as when varmint gets inside a pen or wholed up in a pipe or tree.

 

[Wallydvr]

I'm a trapper, and what you describe sounds like a mink.

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