Help! 16 chickens killed within a week

[Alexander2000]

You should put your chickens on lockdown and if your only aloud to shoot animals in your area shoot that thing that keeps eating your chickens.

 

[sfjones34]

Kind of sounds like raccoons. We had a similar problem where one would be killed and then another and then finally the last three killed in one night. The raccoons even figured out how to open the coop door! Smart little rascals. Sounds like you have an entire family of raccoons visiting your coop. I've read that the momma will bring the babies with her to teach them how to hunt. You need to make your coop very secure to keep out those coons. They dig under and will climb over.

 

[True Patriot]

It definitely sounds like something in the weasel family. It has found a food source, and will not leave until one of two conditions are met. 1) the food source is depleted, or 2) it's killed. A trap baited with tuna or cat food should work at catching it. From there the choice is to dispatch or relocate. I'm personally not a fan of relocating, I feel it dumps your problem on someone else. But everyone has their own feeling on the subject. If you relocate, going 20+ miles will help to foil the "home" instinct.

 

[kmalichky]

Got it buttoned up pretty tight yesterday. Nothing bigger than 1/2”. But I can still tell something was digging around by the gate. Thanks for all the advice. Hopefully I’ve got them sealed up at this point.

 

[aart]

Got it buttoned up pretty tight yesterday. Nothing bigger than 1/2”. But I can still tell something was digging around by the gate. Thanks for all the advice. Hopefully I’ve got them sealed up at this point.

Ground under gates can be tough.
Brick and/or paver threshold extending on both sides, and pinned in.
Had to pin mine with rebar 'posts' because chooks kept undermining it with their digging.

 

[chickeneinstein]

I would suggest getting a motion activated camera to to see exactly what kind of predator it is and how many there are.

 

[BirdGirl2004]

First of all, I am SO sorry for your loss! It stinks that your lost so many chickens, especially since it was all in one week! With my past experiences, this sounds like weasels! Especially since you said there were little holes. GET YOUR CHICKENS TO SAFETY!!!!! For now, until you can build them a coop ( or fix the old one ) you need to make sure that you have a safe place for them to stay, I wouldn't have it smaller than hardware cloth so that absolutely NOTHING can get in!

In case you don't know what hardware cloth looks like

 

[BirdGirl2004]

First of all, I am SO sorry for your loss! It stinks that your lost so many chickens, especially since it was all in one week! With my past experiences, this sounds like weasels! Especially since you said there were little holes. GET YOUR CHICKENS TO SAFETY!!!!! For now, until you can build them a coop ( or fix the old one ) you need to make sure that you have a safe place for them to stay, I wouldn't have it smaller than hardware cloth so that absolutely NOTHING can get in!

In case you don't know what hardware cloth looks like

Make sure that the bottom of your coop is wood, or has a hard substance so that nothing can get in...

 

[MROO]

View attachment 1468713 View attachment 1468712 I’ve boarded up all the holes and spaces I’ve found but it seems to find different ways in. I’ve moved everyone over to another pen that I hope is more secure but it’s not a permanent solution. Any ideas on how to kill it? Or I’m I stuck digging wire down around the whole run

We had to dig-proof our run, too, but I did something a little different from the usual hardware cloth. I had some bags of ready-mix concrete left over from an old project that we never finished (okay, we never even started it, which is why I had 6 bags of the stuff ... but I'm not complaining, now!)
I dug a trench about six inches wide and eight inches deep, filled the trench with dry mix, added water from the hose and mixed it all together, right there in the trench. Once it was set, I added dirt and some rocks over the top. You can stretch your concrete by adding rocks or gravel to it, too. Eventually, I'll plant some marigolds and herbs, so the girls cam snack through the wire.
We were keeping out dogs and foxes, so we didn't have to close every tiny gap. Since you're dealing with smaller vermin, I'd go a little deeper and all the way to the very bottom of your run walls. You may even want to staple hardware cloth to the bottom of your run sides and sink it into the concrete.
We took out a very large tree a few years ago, and one side of my run now has some rotting tree roots under it. I have n idea how far under the run those roots go, but I know that eventually, they'll collapse. That side will get wire along the ground and about 6 inches of sand or gravel over it, this Fall. You may want to add wire inside like that, as well.
You have a nice looking set-up, otherwise ... don't let the little buggers win!

 

[kmalichky]

I caught the mink in the chicken run tonight. The chickens usually roost up about 5 feet out in the run in the summer and I thought since I sealed up any little areas I’d found, they would be safe. I was outside and heard the chickens squawking. I ran out and it had one chicken down and when I cornered it, it jumped/climbed up the corner of the pen (about 5 feet up) and went thru the fence. I only have chicken wire up to about 3 feet and the rest is 2” fencing. I never would have believed it could climb up that way. I got out soon enough to save my chicken and lock them up but I still have my turkeys out. Think they are big enough to be safe?