Daytime predator question

[Kluk-Kluk]

Getting in on this a bit late, but I'll add my two (confusing) cents. First of all, hawks do sit on spruce trees. Our chicken coop is built under a tall spruce, and a red-tailed hawk used to sit on the branches directly above the run and frighten my hens - after I put bird netting over the entire run because we lost a few hens to hawks. I think the hawk enjoyed this, and once in a while it would dive into the netting and really freak out the hens. Last year when free ranging and standing near the hens, a hawk dove at a hen that was just a few feet from me. Some black chicken feathers went flying, but the hen was ok. Every time we've lost a hen to a hawk, there were a lot of feathers scattered all around as the hawk, who couldn't pick up a hen, would pluck and eat the chicken right in front of her flock mates. For that reason, I wouldn't think it's a hawk. However, your chicken carcass does sound like it was so picked clean in places I can't imagine a mammal doing that. We also lost chickens to a clever raccoon in the daytime. Every day the raccoon came earlier and earlier until we finally shot it. But weasel - well, I've not lost any to weasels (thank God), but had an acquaintance lose over 50 pullets in one night to one. Just bit their necks and went on to kill the next and the next and the next...

I'm curious what your camera will show, but I do suspect a raptor.

We now have a bunker instead of a run - well, sort of. Fencing on all sides, above and below as well (so no raccoon or fox can dig under), plus bird netting to keep out anything that could squeeze through the fence - especially the sparrows who thought the chicken feed was an all-you-can-eat buffet, so they called all their friends and chowed down near the big birds.

 

[Debby R]

Yet another 'who done it?'
Yesterday, sometime between 11am and 3:30pm, one of our bantam pullets was killed and partially eaten, by someone.
She was about 20 ft. away from the coop, under mature spruces. Her neck was eaten down to the bones, and her abdomen opened and partially eaten. She maybe weighed in at 1.5 pounds alive, so not large, and not carried off.
The other 31 birds were all fine and roosting inside at 5pm when I went to lock them in.
Weasel? Fox? The spruces are close together and about 35 ft. tall there, seems difficult for a hawk, but maybe a small one? Feral cat?
Southern Michigan, rural mostly.
Mary

I had one taken by an owl at 6:50 pm in the summer- broad daylight. Head gone/ eviscerated in moments. I scared it away.

 

[Folly's place]

I have both bantams and standard sizes, and the hawks have taken juveniles, or bantams, not adult 'big birds'. My coop and roofed 'run' are very safe, but the issues are when they free range. 2019 was a very bad year here, first with one of my dogs getting 2/3 of the flock (!!!) and then over the last two months, three pullets and the bantam rooster killed at different times, at least the last two by this hawk.
2020 will be better, I hope!
The fencing is fixed, but because of the coop location, having a big fenced run just can't be done.
Mary

 

[WhtRos2]

A creek runs across the back of my lot. So it attracts a lot of game. Love the deer but not the other predators that enjoy my girls. There's also a lot of brush and tall grass. I trap coons and possums. But not enuf of them! I, too, have lost some during 11 am and 3:30 pm. I've been curious what is getting them here in west, central IL. So, what do you recommend by way of a game camera? I don't know anything about them.

 

[Conan]

I have both bantams and standard sizes, and the hawks have taken juveniles, or bantams, not adult 'big birds'. My coop and roofed 'run' are very safe, but the issues are when they free range. 2019 was a very bad year here, first with one of my dogs getting 2/3 of the flock (!!!) and then over the last two months, three pullets and the bantam rooster killed at different times, at least the last two by this hawk.
2020 will be better, I hope!
The fencing is fixed, but because of the coop location, having a big fenced run just can't be done.
Mary

Hang in there, Mary! Winter is tough, at least for me. Since you posted this thread, I lost my 6 year old bantam cochin to that damned goshawk. I was about 1 minute too late to save her. These small raptors are so much worse than eagles and red tails. They hide where the birds feel safe — covered areas. They rely entirely on the element of surprise. It's a dangerous hunting style, for them and our bantams.
Here's hoping that 2020 is kinder to our bantam flocks and that the Coopers, and goshawks find happier hunting grounds.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I’m quite late seeing this thread, but the picked clean neck vertebrae sounded like our mallard hen that was killed and only partly eaten by a young red-tailed hawk. I was amazed at how cleanly picked those neck vertebrae were. Sounds like you’ve since identified your culprit - so sorry for your losses!

 

[Villainess]

Ok I gotta play devils advocate here and stand up for weasels: have any of you seen a weasel kill a chicken? Actually seen it? And I am meaning particularly the North Americans, as in Europe “weasel” can indicate a couple species in the family that are far larger than our native ones.
All our N.A. weasels are tiny, and feed primarily on mice, small birds (finches/chickadees) and whatever other bugs frogs etc they find. All these things are found around chicken coops, which would definitely account for people seeing a weasel, and of course the little guys could also take a bite out of an already dead bird, because meat is meat. Here’s an adult skull, just 4cm long with canine teeth a whopping 3mm - not really suited to delivering a single killing bite through a chicken skull, which is how weasels typically kill. Below is a field mouse, the brown guy is a short tailed weasel in the summer, probably a juvenile, killed by my cat. Beside it are a couple of mature winter weasels (trappers call them ermine but they’re the same species,) and they barely stretch to 30cm. I’d never say it was “impossible” for them to kill a chicken, just unlikely. Other members of the weasel family including mink, fisher and marten might, but they mostly keep to the forest and not urban areas....though again, I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. Anyway, just my 2cents View attachment 1991168
View attachment 1991166

I think some people are often confused with the similarities between weasels, minks, and other weasel-like animals in the family Mustelidae, because they DO look so similar to the layman.

Back in December we had an attack on our chicken coop around 3AM, what my husband insisted was a weasel. He’d gotten only a brief glimpse of it at the beginning—when he opened the door, our Pekin drake (I have a mixed flock) literally fell out the door with this “weasel” attached to his neck, until my husband tried removing it from the duck while beating the crap out of it with his Maglite. It did let go of the duck, but then proceeded to run right back into the coop with the rest of my birds.

Once we finally got the situation under control and damage assessed, the Pekin drake had sustained some pretty serious wounds to his neck (he’s still quacking and kicking after I nursed him back to health ), one of my Rouen drakes was killed, and once I could finally see the culprit I was able to identify it as a mink. He was a beautiful animal of a good size (I’d guess at least 16 inches); I wish I’d gotten a picture of him. But when you’re trying to dress yourself while rushing out the door at 3AM in winter....the last thing you consider is a good photo opportunity.

The next day I was discussing the attack with a friend from work whom I’d given some of my hens to a couple months prior. I was describing to her what the animal looked like since I had not gotten a picture, and she says, “oh, a weasel?” I tell her no, my attacker was a mink, trying to explain some of the differences between minks and weasels. She then tells me that she had just recently had an attack on her birds, too, and that it was a weasel. So we’re going back and forth about it (because I’m thinking her culprit was also a mink) verbally comparing size, attack methods, etc., while she’s on her phone, when she finally shows me a picture. Not some picture pulled off Wikipedia or Google but the animal itself, the carcass of which she’d gotten a picture of after her husband had shot it trying to escape. And it was a weasel!

Indiana has two species of weasels: the long-tailed weasel (M. frenata) and the least weasel (M. nivalis) and her attacker had been the long-tailed weasel. Even though I didn’t have a picture, I could recall the differences of the two from memory. My mink had a good ~5-7 inches on the weasel she had, a stouter, more solid body than her weasel. And of course the coat—minks have a beautiful, silky smooth fur (that’s why they’re hunted for their fur!), darker and thicker than that of a weasel.

From a distance, the two animals would look quite similar. To a layman and not someone with a background in the life sciences and medicine, the two animals might be mistaken as the same animal of different colors. But, while closely related, the two are different animals.

I have not seen a weasel kill a chicken myself. I have just seen the aftermath of a mink attack. However, a friend of mine did witness a weasel killing one of her chickens, and she had picture proof of it.

Regards,
Alicia

 

[Folly's place]

I do tend to lump the whole group, weasels of either type, mink, and ferrets, together. I have seen both mink and weasels here occasionally during the daytime. People keep domestic ferrets, and I've never seen one that escaped or was released.
Mary

 

[illinoishiker]

Maybe try putting the partially eaten chicken in a trap and see what you get? I have numerous cats that I've rescued. They are interested in baby chicks but never bother a grown chicken. One really likes to sleep in a chicken nest though the hens have tried to get her out. She just likes it in there but doesn't hurt anything and the hens finally gave up and accepted her. A hungry feral cat might catch small chickens though. I've lost guineas and chickens during the day to coyotes but they take the whole bird. This sounds like something small such as a weasel. Or the neighbors' small dog? I suggest putting a trap where this chicken was caught and baiting it to see what you get. You might get the neighbor's cat but you can just turn it loose. But if you get a weasel or a wild animal you might have your problem.

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

Hang in there, Mary! Winter is tough, at least for me. Since you posted this thread, I lost my 6 year old bantam cochin to that damned goshawk. I was about 1 minute too late to save her. These small raptors are so much worse than eagles and red tails. They hide where the birds feel safe — covered areas. They rely entirely on the element of surprise. It's a dangerous hunting style, for them and our bantams.
Here's hoping that 2020 is kinder to our bantam flocks and that the Coopers, and goshawks find happier hunting grounds.

I’m sorry you lost your bantam We have Cooper’s hawks that are quite comfortable hanging out below the tree canopy and even just waiting on backyard fences. Also very common in Oregon and Washington are fearless owls. I hope you and the OP can take comfort in knowing your birds had the BEST life getting to free range! A better life than 99.999% of chickens on this planet! They really got to be chickens.