Help, something killing my chickens! Pictures included.

HopieGirl4Ever

The Chook Artist
5 Years
Oct 23, 2014
288
190
191
At my Desk
A few nights ago I saw a possum when I was going to lock up the chickens. It seemed to be doing no harm, so I didn't go after it when it ran away. The night after that, something managed to unhook the hook on the large doghouse that I had turned into a chicken coop, and killed one of my best laying hens. It took its body away, but there were a lot of feathers in the enclosure. So then I fixed the latch to make it much stronger and better, and that night I didn't lose anyone.
But last night something got into the enclosure with the doghouse-coop and ripped the roof off it! It killed and partially ate the rooster, and took away the hen, as well as harassing the guinea fowl in the enclosure beside theirs (I can tell because there are quite a bit of feathers in the enclosure that weren't there the night before). The guineas are fine, however.

So I am thinking that maybe now I have both a possum and a raccoon, because I don't think a possum could rip the roof off a large, sturdy doghouse?

Any help as soon as possible would be very appreciated! Here are some photos:


Above is the scene of crime...


Above is a closeup of the rooster...




Here you can see how the roof was ripped off...






Feathers...



And guinea feathers in the next enclosure.
 
When you say that it unhooked the latch I think racoon, but the part of the hen being completely gone seems like a fox. A racoon could defiantly rip off the roof, so my main suspicion is a racoon. Good luck, I hope the rest of your fowl Stay safe!
 
My money is on raccoon - they have the dexterity to manipulate all sorts of latches and a strength that many folks terribly underestimate - especially when motivated by having had previous success getting a meal out of a particular enclosure.
 
Having a look at your enclosure and knowing this is a situation where you have had multiple attacks, I would suggest that it might be time to make changes overall to the setup that will better prevent predators from gaining access to the run in the first place.
 
Thank you for your suggestions! It makes sense that it's a raccoon, because of the strength needed to rip the roof off. I'll keep you updated.
 

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