Daytime predator question

[Folly's place]

I agree, or a goshawk. I didn't get a good enough view before he flew off, but will be watching.
Mary

 

[casportpony]

@Folly's place, sorry you lost another, he sure was handsome.

 

[blackandtan]

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

 

[blackandtan]

And please stop laughing at my dirty hands

 

[casportpony]

And please stop laughing at my dirty hands

They look like mine!

 

[123RedBeard]

@blackandtan

You forgot to mention that weasels have magic bellies ... how they can eat half (or more!) Of a chicken at one sitting ...

 

[blackandtan]

@blackandtan

You forgot to mention that weasels have magic bellies ... how they can eat half (or more!) Of a chicken at one sitting ...

Oh yes that’s true, it’s like Santa’s sack lol

 

[sourland]

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
View attachment 1991166

Nope, but a long, long time ago when I was a kid I saw my mother kill a weasel that was doing its darnedest to kill a full grown leghorn hen. I have seen them kill a full grown cotton tail rabbit - or at least I have come upon them on the carcass of freshly killed rabbits. What they lack in size they make up for with tenacity.

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

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

That's a great photo. Very helpful. I had no idea they are so small!! Luckily SO FAR they don't live in my neighborhood!!

 

[Arbutus Peregrine]

Today I saw the likely culprit, a medium sized gray hawk, who killed my escape artist Brad, a very nice EE bantam rooster. He got out past me today when I was doing the coop, and I didn't let any other birds outside. I went back out there to see if he would come back in, and found him dead, under the hawk.
Another bad day for the chickens here!!!
He was the only serious escape artist in the flock, so the rest will be much easier to keep in, for the next three weeks at least. It's going to snow, and they will want to be in anyway.
View attachment 1990980 View attachment 1990981 He was wonderful, and will be missed. I have one of his sons, who looks like him.
Mary

so sorry to hear about your birds Why are bantams so rascally and independent?!