Help!

[EggSighted4Life]

Unfortunately, the fence shown is not going to exclude any of the common predators of poultry.

Agreed. We locally had a coyote jump a six foot wooden fence and kill the domestic dog behind it.

 

[50-45-1]

I can appreciate the work that you have put into your run with the chain link, but it will not deter a determined and hungry preditor.
Chickens and ducks are vunerble and defenseless at night and easily killed.
That is why your birds need a coop. With no holes or gaps at all. A real building!
What ever did this will be back tonight and wil be disintersted in your husband trap if the live birds are exposed and avaliable.
I caught a weasel last year. But i had repaired the hole (one inch mole tunnell under hardware skirting around my coop)and the dead chick i wired in the live trap is one he had killed the night before.

t

 

[HAPPYCHICKENLADY17]

We had a rat problem with our baby ducks in the garage about a month ago now. We caught the rat, left the trap out and have gotten nothing else. Baby chicks and ducks have been in enclosure with bigger ducks and chickens for three weeks or so. Today we go out to let them free range and i find two dead ducklings. One with head ripped off. Two chicks about 2 months old dead with puncture wounds. A 4 month old duck head ripped off and one alive baby duck with puncture marks. I am missing two ducklings.

I am assuming rat again. But any other predators do that?

Also, what do I put on the puncture marks of the baby duckling? I have polysporin readily available.

that is so sad.....we enclosed our entire coop areas with double wire, 2x4 and poultry netting and the coop has the tiny hardware cloth..i lost 2 little 4 week old chickes to a raccoon, left nothing,,,,ate bones and all....its heartbreaking

 

[cmom]

I have electric wire around my coops and pens, concrete under the gates and heavy duty netting covering all of my pens, all due to predators in the past. All of the predators like poultry and if there is a will there is a way. I had an owl kill several of my birds and couldn't figure out how the predator was getting in. Since then I put the netting over all of my pens. I put up a game camera to find out what was killing my birds, because once the predator kills it will be back.

 

[hkisch2014]

I can appreciate the work that you have put into your run with the chain link, but it will not deter a determined and hungry preditor.
Chickens and ducks are vunerble and defenseless at night and easily killed.
That is why your birds need a coop. With no holes or gaps at all. A real building!
What ever did this will be back tonight and wil be disintersted in your husband trap if the live birds are exposed and avaliable.
I caught a weasel last year. But i had repaired the hole (one inch mole tunnell under hardware skirting around my coop)and the dead chick i wired in the live trap is one he had killed the night before.
View attachment 1822574 t

They do have a coop. Thanks for the comment though.

 

[Howard E]

A question and random thoughts to help you puzzle this out......

Question: were these birds locked up in predator proof housing at night? Can't tell if they were locked up, or confined within the larger fenced in pen and just using the small sheds for shelter? If the latter, they were at open risk to a whole bunch of predators. Wide open.

Random thoughts........

You may have caught "a rat", but not "the rat"......as in singular. Rats form colonies of dozens or more. If you had one, you likely had and may still have a whole lot more. Look for the tell tale signs of tunnels, etc. But rats highly doubtful rats did these killings.

But rats attract predators who will. Removal of heads is often done by one of three main predators.......coons, owls and weasels (or one of the cousins, like a mink). Rats are a preferred food for weasels (and the cousins), along with owls, snakes and a whole lot of other predators that are attracted by the rats, but quickly transition to killing your birds too.

Coons and owls will rip off the heads and start eating. But that doesn't explain those with puncture marks.

Weasels attack and kill by biting the back of the head at the base of the neck. In a violent struggle, they may rip the head off....but often you only see bite marks on the back of the head.......and those telltale puncture marks under the wings. Those are from rear toes/claws digging in and hanging on while the biting is taking place. And weasels will kill a whole bunch of birds during a single attack.

So going forward........you need safe and secure housing to protect the birds at night from all comers. Once the sun goes down, they go inside, where they are safe from all threats. Nothing gets in.

And as for the whodunnit, aside from the live trap.......which only reveals what it caught that time.....if anything........best bet is to use a game camera to see what is lurking around after hours. You will likely be shocked........shocked.....at what is out there going bump in the night. Knowing what you are up against is the first step towards eliminating the threat.

 

[hkisch2014]

A question and random thoughts to help you puzzle this out......

Question: were these birds locked up in predator proof housing at night? Can't tell if they were locked up, or confined within the larger fenced in pen and just using the small sheds for shelter? If the latter, they were at open risk to a whole bunch of predators. Wide open.

Random thoughts........

You may have caught "a rat", but not "the rat"......as in singular. Rats form colonies of dozens or more. If you had one, you likely had and may still have a whole lot more. Look for the tell tale signs of tunnels, etc. But rats highly doubtful rats did these killings.

But rats attract predators who will. Removal of heads is often done by one of three main predators.......coons, owls and weasels (or one of the cousins, like a mink). Rats are a preferred food for weasels (and the cousins), along with owls, snakes and a whole lot of other predators that are attracted by the rats, but quickly transition to killing your birds too.

Coons and owls will rip off the heads and start eating. But that doesn't explain those with puncture marks.

Weasels attack and kill by biting the back of the head at the base of the neck. In a violent struggle, they may rip the head off....but often you only see bite marks on the back of the head.......and those telltale puncture marks under the wings. Those are from rear toes/claws digging in and hanging on while the biting is taking place. And weasels will kill a whole bunch of birds during a single attack.

So going forward........you need safe and secure housing to protect the birds at night from all comers. Once the sun goes down, they go inside, where they are safe from all threats. Nothing gets in.

And as for the whodunnit, aside from the live trap.......which only reveals what it caught that time.....if anything........best bet is to use a game camera to see what is lurking around after hours. You will likely be shocked........shocked.....at what is out there going bump in the night. Knowing what you are up against is the first step towards eliminating the threat.

Thank you very much for the thought out response. We will be locking up the ducklings tonight. However, our older ducklings (those that are 3 months and older) will be outside. They do not like going into the coop at night. The only yime my year olds did was when we had -35 degree weather this past winter. Hopefully, they are safe until we can figure out a different coop for them. Our chickens do go inside their coop at night however. We have 2 live traps out baited with the ducklings that got killed last night. We will also be setting up a game camera. Hopefully we will figure out what this predator is. Will post tomorrow with findings. Thank you once again.