Baby chicks with insides eaten

[bunnym58]

I just moved my 5 week old buff orpingtons to their hew coop. Completly covered. Somethoing killed all but one baby. Moved her in with big chickes last night. Had her seperate. She was also in covered area. Something got here last night, just her insides. I'm sick over this. I nerver had apoblem with my first six. They stayed in the same two pens. I'm new to this site and fairly new to raising chickens, but I Love them and want to protect them. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks bunnym

 

[gsim]

Sorry to hear it. Would guess weasel or rat. Best to go over coop and run inch by inch to find entry . Traps are great too. Likely a small pred to go after chicks. Likely a repeat customer as well. Rat traps all around, and be sure to trip all in AM before letting chooks out. D-con or rodent poison ok too as long as kept from pets. Borrow a friend's cat for a week? If all of your chicks are gone, likely not to bother full grown hens. If you can borrow a catch-alive trap, just bait with cat food or tuna and drown or shoot them when caught.

Weasel got all 24 of my friend's pullets at around 8 weeks age. Sucked their blood. His coop is in middle of small pasture that has goats and a Jenny mule for protection against coyotes and dogs. No good for coons, rats, or weasels tho as they can sneak in and mule will not know it or even care.

 

[bunnym58]

Thanks for the info. Have a squril trap set to night with a piece of red meat in it. It may be to big of a trap. Plan to go tomorrow and buy smaller trap. I plan to keep trap set all the time. I regret putting the last survior out last night. She was the sweetest little thing. I really want to get six more, but will wait till spring when the weather warms. Even if I am in Northwest Florida. Thank You Again.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

omg.....I hate finding dead babies. Esp like that. I hope you can find out what killed them and get your revenge. If it is rats I would recommend you go to the local animal shelter and get a homeless rat terrier. They are awesome. A puppy would be best because then you can train to get along with chickens.

 

[PandoraTaylor]

so sorry for your loss

 

[mdbarone]

I wanted to let you know that this EXACT same thing happened to me and it made me sick!!! I COMPLETELY took everything out of the coop to check for holes in the flooring or anywhere else! I found rat droppings!! And I had never seen rats or traces of them before. We took most of the hay and put it in another area, so that the rats couldn't hide in the evening before we locked the coop for the night. Then, after the chickens were locked up for the night, we set up rat traps around the coop and almost every morning there was a rat in the traps. We haven't had anymore dead chickens. I think your problem could be the same as ours.

 

[Chris09]

I would also say that it sounds like Rats or weasels.
You may want to get some poison put out I would sagest Blue Death. You should be able to get it at any good feed mill if not you can get it here..
http://allanimaldepot.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19&products_id=646
Just put it were not other animals can get to it. I have very good luck with it and seen it take out rats, mice, raccoon, opossum, ground hogs..
Sorry I never had good luck with D-con (more like D-candy)..

Chris

 

[bunnym58]

Thanks everyone. I checked trap this AM and had a baby possum. I'm still not sure that is what got my chicks. but will keep setting trap to see if I get anything else. It's nice to have people that have had the same problem give me advice. Thanks to all. bunnym

 

[Bizzybirdy]

Possums will eat the belly out of chickens, and a baby would probably go for baby chicks first. Even a large one would probably go for the babies as possums are pretty lazy.

Hope you did away with the baby. Interesting to see if you trap more possums. Where there is one, there is often a family. Do you not lock your chickens up in a house at night? Most predators can get into pens that are not fortified and once one has found chicken dinner the rest will soon follow until there are no chickens left.

So sorry for your loss.