Can anyone identify this animal that was lurking around my coop?

[sally4500]

Thanks everyone, I will research more, hopefully they are nocturnal. I will give my kitty a pat on the back for this one, and some treats! Good kitty!!

I wish there were a place on earth where chickens could roam in safety without the threat on being eaten all the time.

 

[bantyshanty]

Please search for "weasel" in BYC, and outside as well. There are long discussions on BYC as to what damage they do and how they do it, and links to state s& national animal ID sites.
Looks like a long-tail weasel, definitely. We had one on property and now don't free-range anymore.

It kills masses of chickens without eating them, just sipping blood, usually.

If you can proof your chicken run and definitely the coop to the point where there is no hole anywhere or digging passageway anywhere any bigger than a quarter, your chickens should be safe from them as long as they stay in their fortress. The weasels are generally nocturnal, but not always, especially if they're raising young. Consummate hunters. They can climb 50 feet & dig very well.
Think "Riki-Tiki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling, animated by Chuck Jones, if you've seen the animated short.

Hope this helps.

 

[ChooksChick]

We have weasels and ferrets and minks around here, though not commonly in town- they'll sneak in the smallest holes and bleed each chicken, one-by-one overnight. It's an awful thing. Make certain the smallest holes are covered WELL in hardware cloth, using screws and washers to secure it. These are wicked vampires that will get in any hole their skull can fit through. Anything bigger than a half-dollar is like a garage door to them.

I'd go over the coop with a fine-tooth comb today!

 

[sally4500]

Heading out to the coop now to check security. I have to work tonight and don't want to worry about them.

 

[sourland]

Long tailed weasel, and they will hunt during the daytime. They do not just eat blood. They will kill large amounts of birds in a killing spree and store for later consumption. Hard to tell, but that looks like an adult male. They are quite solitary although a female will travel with her young of the year. Keep a live trap set alongside your pen. Sardines are good bait, but just the placement alongside the pen may catch any as they run around the perimeter. They do climb and can go through anything smaller than hardware cloth. Keep that cat in good health she's invaluable.

 

[kla37]

Good Kitty!!! She deserves a treat for that!

 

[bigdaddyabc]

All I have to add is that we are not "cat people", but yours is welcome here anytime for tuna and milk! Good Kitty!!!!

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
It will eat your chickens!!

No question but it is a weasel in partial color phase--they can vary from all white with a black tipped tail to brown.

Actually it won't eat your chickens--it will just kill them for sport, they are really nasty. I lost 15 full grown 4-5 yr old birds to one this last winter--usually one or two at a time. You're lucky your cat got it--unfortunately mine just hunt on the neighbor's property. Weasels are very adept at getting in through the tiniest entry as well--this one came in under a door that was mouse chewed. On the other hand, they are death on mice and rats--before he got to my birds he had cleaned out a nest of rats living under the coop. (I didn't know what had happened just noticed there was not rat sign around. Figured it out post slaughter/trapping.) For rendering this service his life was spared--I relocated him about 5 miles away. You can see him in the trap below with the head of one of the roosters he killed that very morning that I used for bait. He didn't want to give it up. As you also can see from the photo he was trapped during the day--on April 1st to be exact--and while I was 10 feet away replacing the door he had come in through. He just came in the other side of the coop through the open chicken door.

 

[sourland]

Yes, they will eat your chickens. The only reason they won't is if they can not remove them from the pen or coop. They will go into a killing frenzy then drag the carcasses to a cache for the feeding of themselves and their young. If you had ever seen a weasel's cache, you would not doubt that they eat what they kill. Their mentality says kill as much as I can and store it for leaner times. Generally when weasels kill domestic fowl, they are unable to remove them and drag them away to a storage place. They will enter a live trap baited with the carcass of a dead chicken to eat it- there is no blood to "suck" at this point. Just another wildlife myth. Weasels are extremeley bold and brazen and are very reluctant to leave their kills. By the way, a large buck weasel like the one shown in partial winter coloration may have a range of several miles; therefor, 5 miles is not outside of it's range to return from.

 

[Nystra]

I'm glad someone has a cat that does good.. I myself will have to look into Maine law on killing neighbor animals... Lost my favorite girl (Barred Rock) today to the gray tabby who lives next door.... Saw it slinking around yesterday and today went out to check on the girls and everyone was hiding. one under the house one in the house and 3 in the pricker bushes... had to cut into the bushes to get them out they were so far in.. And never found more than a few clumps of feathers from my girl (Minnie) i miss her