Never seen any weasels around here. We're "lucky" in the UK that we don't get all the predators that you guys do, it's just the fox really and that's it if we're talking about wild animals getting into a chicken pen.
I've always heard that foxes take the heads off, didn't know about other predators-is this just the easiest way to kill is that why they take heads off? My guess is that the fox couldn't get the birds back under the wire so wasn't able to take off with them or it's possible yes that it got interrupted.
MROO- Sorry you had even worse experiences finding your birds Glad things are working out for you now, I wish I had a goat! Used to have dogs that would bark at any noise and may have scared foxes away but do not have dogs anymore since my last one passed away. It's a shame, if it wasn't for the fox we could keep our birds out all the time.
Thanks - it was actually years ago, but still fresh in my mind. The goat was funny, He was a master of creative boredom-busting, so my poor birds never knew what to expect. More than once, we found bald patches on the back of my largest (and most peaceful!) drakes and chalked it up to a predator or molting... until we caught him playing "tag" with Frankie. The poor fellow was a huge Mallard/Pekin cross who was too sweet to hurt even a fly and wasn't smart enough to get out of his own way. Apparently, he was Banjo's favorite playmate!