Came home to over half my chickens missing or torn apart

[Howard E]

No worries......it was a good question.

We are not known for having mink......yet we have them around.

This one showed up on a gamer camera week or so back, and no more than 50 yards from the chicken house.....when it comes to chickens......death is always lurking nearby. If you do your part, predators are no threat. If not, they will wipe you out.

 

[bobbi-j]

No worries......it was a good question.

We are not known for having mink......yet we have them around.

This one showed up on a gamer camera week or so back, and no more than 50 yards from the chicken house.....when it comes to chickens......death is always lurking nearby. If you do your part, predators are no threat. If not, they will wipe you out.

View attachment 2493636

Evil little varmints!

 

[cmom]

Well you are not the OP, but since you asked.........pattern of kill is always a clue as to whodunnit. A lot of dead birds killed all at once, with missing heads, bites to the back of the neck, etc. is almost always a mink, weasel or one of the cousins (fisher cat, martin, etc. iin northern climates). Others will kill a lot of birds (dogs, etc) but pattern of kill is different.

Weasels, mink, ferrets, etc, are all from the same family. They are some of natures most vicious predators of rats, mice, rodents, etc, Said to kill for sport......not exactly true, but rather are hard wired to kill in abundance when abundance presents itself. When they go into a killing spree, they kill anything that moves. They are effecient at it.....going for the back of the neck at base of the skull and spine.....they bite down and severe the spine, killing instantly. The blood thing is probably an extension of biting the neck and severed heads. Yes.....that would be bloody, but not what they are after.

What normally attracts them to the chickens is not the chickens but rats and mice that are attracted to the spilt chicken feed but they will transition to killing birds in a heartbeat. They are killing machines, so will come back.

Way to keep birds safe is to house them in a tight coop that predators can't get in. No openings larger than 1 inch for weasels and not much larger for a mink. Long slender bodies are made go into rodent tunnels, so plan accordingly.

But in the case of the OP, birds nesting on the ground in the open would be goners. Around here they wouldn't last 2 days. Only bird I've had that pulled that stunt didn't last 12 hours.

I have never seen a weasel or similar here, but I agree.