Hen killed, partial eaten...could it be a

[lizrndiver]

Skunk?

We lock all our chickens up at night, but apparently one had roosted somewhere in the run. So when DH closed up the coop, it got left out in the run. This morning we found her dead with her bottom eaten off, all the insides eaten, and half on her neck eaten. Her head was intact. The run is enclosed by 1 x 4 welded wire. There were no holes anywhere or any places that were dug up.

We have had both raccoons and skunks in the yard recently. Any thoughts which it could be? DH thought he could smell skunk this am, but I do not know how it could have gotten in the run.

Thanks,

Liz

Edited for spelling errors

 

[tututres]

Sorry about your chicken, I don't know a lot about chickens yet, but I was talking to a lady today that told me that weasels will kill a chicken and that they do have a smell like a skunk. They are part of the family that includes skunks. I don't know if you have them in your area or not. I looked it up on the internet and it did say that they will kill a chicken. Don't know if this helps or not.

 

[theFox]

Weasel, skunk, mink, and others can leave a smell.

That 1 x 4 fencing isn't there as far as a weasel or rat is concerned.

If the run isn't covered then the list of possible perps grows.

 

[scbatz33]

sounds like weasel

 

[magistradomina]

I thought weasels only ate the head of a chicken...

 

[theFox]

What a predator eats depends solely on how hungry it is and whether it gets disturbed.

 

[CaitlynNichols]

Sounds like a weasel problem to me.

 

[Ranger 45]

Depends on weather the pen has a roof on it. If not then it could range from a fox to a coon or even a skunk. If it dosse have a roof in it then i would say a coon. I know this from experience becaue i once had one climb up ite side of the cage, find a spot where the roof wasent tied down to well, and lift it up. it was a wire roof so any thing with opposable thumbs could do it. Ur best bet is to go buy a live trap that has only one Exit/entrance and put some thing simple init, like table scraps. Dose the charm every time for me

 

[lizrndiver]

Well...thanks for all the feedback. My run has a roof over 2/3 of it. We set out a live trap and got a huge raccoon last night. We also found a den that looks to be a skunk den just behind the coop. With all the snow melting this week, everyone must be out gorging themselves.

We are going to keep trapping for the next few nights and see what happens.

Skunks and coons I can handle better than weasels. Anyone know if they can climb? I could do 1/4 inch welded wire around the base of my run, but I would go broke trying to cover the whole thing.

Liz

 

[Ranger 45]

I would say weasles can climb fences if they can climb trees. You would probably nees a squirrle trap for them cause they are so small and quick.

Now when you are done trapping just leave the tha set unbaited iv caught tons of possums and coons with nuthin in the trap and its just sits against the back of the outside chicken run