I went out to feed and water my birds before work and found every single bird of 7 with its throat torn out. What broke my heart was that most of them were trying to hide, under the ramp, behind the food bin. I can only imagine how terrorized they must have been. Blah.
I called my husband hysterical of course and he came home from work and cleaned up the mess. Now he is on a mission to avenge their deaths. I don't even know how whatever it was got in but I'm guessing either a weasel or raccoon. Can weasels climb? We have a large shed type building and the galvanized fencing over the top of the run and inside of the coop, the tiny hardcloth mesh all around. All doors etc were secure. At this point I'm believe it must have been some ninja's. We have checked the snow for tracks and since that day did find what we believe are weasel tracks but also possum and raccoon elsewhere on the property.
At this point, I'll wait til its warmer out and clean out all the pine shavings and investigate how it got in and truly fortify the coop. I thought we had Fort Knox, we had 2 years of safety until now. Lesson learned.
I called my husband hysterical of course and he came home from work and cleaned up the mess. Now he is on a mission to avenge their deaths. I don't even know how whatever it was got in but I'm guessing either a weasel or raccoon. Can weasels climb? We have a large shed type building and the galvanized fencing over the top of the run and inside of the coop, the tiny hardcloth mesh all around. All doors etc were secure. At this point I'm believe it must have been some ninja's. We have checked the snow for tracks and since that day did find what we believe are weasel tracks but also possum and raccoon elsewhere on the property.
At this point, I'll wait til its warmer out and clean out all the pine shavings and investigate how it got in and truly fortify the coop. I thought we had Fort Knox, we had 2 years of safety until now. Lesson learned.