{graphic Pics!!} - What Did This???!!!!

[Turkeyrangler]

Try an old fashion Victor rat trap. Looks just like the old fashion mouse traps only larger. Nail it to an outside wall of the coop about 8-12 inches off the ground with the trap set so that the jaw swings down. Bait it with some chicken liver of any small chicken part. When he goes for the bait the trap will spring and it should break his neck. I've used these for weasels before. It should also break the neck of a mink as well. Cheap, easy solution.

 

[wpalmisano]

Not a raccoon or possum. They would have feasted on them. Not a dog either. It was a weasel. A weasel, like a cat, will kill for sport. A weasel would have tried to drag that chicken through the small hole it dug. A weasel goes right for the head and neck, not unlike other predators, but anything a coon gets through the fence is eaten. Most predators would have eaten the rich fatty parts at least. Take a 5 gallon pail with a lid, and make a hole large enough for the weasel to get into, then put in fly bait. This will keep the birds and dogs out.
Get a motion detector camera for the pen and know your enemy. It will come back again.

 

[Marion565]

sorry for your loss

 

[Wisher1000]

I had a mink (according to my Dad) kill all my chickens when I was a kid (over thirty years ago) inside the city limits! I like the rat trap idea. Tan the hide and make your survivor a little mink coat and hat!

 

[theFox]

That looks like a raccoon, they will pull the bird through small openings thus heads get pulled off.

They don't always need to get into a coop to do damage like that.

 

[tedabug]

I think that sweet chicken needs a new name......How about "LUCKY!"

 

[dieselgrl48]

Racoon's can get through a small space.If their head can go through they basicly like a rat.I lost half of my Flock of 10 Millie's to a couple of coon's this year.Rats will eat them too.I had never experienced rats eating bird's until this year and I lost about 25 young graduated bird's within a couple of days in a closed coop.They basicaly pulled all of them behind the wire walls and some had chewed head s and neck's.Similar to a racoon or mink attack.We found the rats infested underneath coop in cellar and put poision in there and caught some huge one's.So far I have 2 other young groups in that coopwith no problem's.Invest in a live trap for sure if it's a coon..I keep my rat bait's safely set away from the bird's and pet's still.I have seen some the bigger electrified rat traps but havent tried those yet. Soooooo sorry and huggz for you and your bird's.I know how bad it is losing them.Hope you find the critter.

 

[elevan]

Quote:
She was one that didn't have a name...we were waiting to decide. When my husband pulled the rain barrel away so we could get to her, he said, "I think she was very lucky...that's what we should call her!" And so, that is indeed her name. Thanks.

 

[elevan]

Just read this on http://www.unitedwildlife.com/AnimalsMinks.html

Damage and Damage Identification

Mink may occasionally kill domestic poultry around farms. They typically kill their prey by biting them through the skull or neck. Closely spaced pairs of canine tooth marks are sign of a mink kill.

Mink will attack animals up to the size of a chicken, duck, rabbit, or muskrat. While eating muskrats, a mink will often make an opening in the back or side of the neck and skin the animal by pulling the head and body through the hole as it feeds. Like some other members of the weasel family, mink occasionally exhibit “surplus killing” behavior (killing much more than they can possibly eat) when presented with an abundance of food, such as in a poultry house full of chickens. Mink may place many dead chickens neatly in a pile. Mink can eat significant numbers of upland nesting waterfowl or game bird young, particularly in areas where nesting habitat is limited.

I would say that I had a surplus killing, one of my birds was partially skinned while being pulled into a hole, 5 of my birds were piled together (sort of neatly) and all of their necks were attacked, bitten or heads removed. Plus my property has smelled "skunky" for a few months now. I didn't even know that there were minks (or weasels) in Ohio! Looks like I got some traps to set and some "bait" to lay out

 

[cat1994]

Looks like a mink to me

im sorry