Help me identify this wee beastie please (injury pics)

[Chicalina]

I'm reading that owls will just take the head. I don't know whether the double bite mark fits, though. https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/which-animal-bites-the-heads-off-chickens/

Thanks for that article. I've read that mustelids also do this, and I think it unlikely an owl would walk inside a coop through a pop door and drag out 4 chickens. It seems more mammalian behaviour to me. Owls hunt in open space.

 

[LaFleche]

Many years ago we had a marten or stoat get through a tiny gap under a new wooden coop door that shrank in the summer heat until it was successful squeezing through and killing all 15 chickens, rooster and one little chick also.

At first they looked unharmed but when examining them they all showed the signature bite marks as did yours.

 

[Chicalina]

Many years ago we had a marten or stoat get through a tiny gap under a new wooden coop door that shrank in the summer heat until it was successful squeezing through and killing all 15 chickens, rooster and one little chick also.

At first they looked unharmed but when examining them they all showed the signature bite marks as did yours.

That's interesting to know, thank you. And how awful .

Was the gap the sort of space a rat could squeeze through?

 

[TOR]

stoat, weasel, mink same family very agile, fit thru very small hole, viscous predator. extremely strong jaws for its size.

 

[TOR]

That's interesting to know, thank you. And how awful .

Was the gap the sort of space a rat could squeeze through?

weasels by me can go thru a 1 inch opening. As long as they can get their head thru they will go thru with body.
hardware cloth as mentioned is best deterrent. expensive.
Weasels here in USA will move in daylight and night. They do not store fat so they need to keep eating.
UK from looking it up has both stoats and weasels.
A rat trap, live trap, box trap will catch them, as long as you get them in trap, )

This type trap is sold as others, and this trap if your handy or know someone can be made. very easy to make with some basic tools.

Look up weasel trap.

Your stoat, weasel will be back. As long as it knows a food source.
I believe your predator is

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[Pjm14624]

For $60 at Amazon, I got two trail cameras that take video. One night they captured a raccoon frat party in my pen, and the next, a possum.

Possums are more deadly than people credit them for. And they decapitate. They, too, would make small bite wounds like what you showed.

Just a possibility.

 

[Chicalina]

I've got a trail camera set up and all it caught were wild birds and domestic cats. It might have been a cat that did it. No weasels or similar caught on camera.

I set a trap down but it didn't catch anything after a week so I stopped putting it down.

 

[Leatherworker]

Based on the tooth pattern and how it killed multiple animals with one attack, this is a likely suspect. Something smaller, aggressive and killing for sport.

Weasels do the same. So sorry for your loss and that your little boy is missing them. I really hate losing chickens.

 

[Leatherworker]

For $60 at Amazon, I got two trail cameras that take video. One night they captured a raccoon frat party in my pen, and the next, a possum.

Possums are more deadly than people credit them for. And they decapitate. They, too, would make small bite wounds like what you showed.

Just a possibility.

Your right. They are very dangerous to chickens.

 

[Chicalina]

For $60 at Amazon, I got two trail cameras that take video. One night they captured a raccoon frat party in my pen, and the next, a possum.

Possums are more deadly than people credit them for. And they decapitate. They, too, would make small bite wounds like what you showed.

Just a possibility.

I'm in the UK so we don't have possums or raccoons here. But thank you for your ideas, perhaps that info will help someone else.

I have a trail camera, it's a good idea. So far only benign animals have featured on the camera, plus some cats. I'm still stumped.