I have a predator

[magikchick]

First it was one of my bantam cochin hens. I found her by the fence with her head missing from the crop up. Then two 3 week old chicks have disapeared. Now I find one of my LF hens with her insides hanging out. She was also attacked by the fence. Something reached thru and grabbed her. I'm thinking a raccoon?

 

[Centralflafred]

Try a hav a heart trap with some chicken flavored cat food in it for bait.

 

[magikchick]

I was thinking I need to go get a live trap and see what I get.

 

[gsim]

Marshmallows make good coon bait for some reason. Sounds like a coon to me, 10:1 over anything else. That is their M O. Put 24" tall roll of chicken wire around inside at ground level to keep them from poking their heads out. If your run is narrow, then you will need to use 1/2" hardware cloth instead, all around inside of run at ground level. I know of a case where 2 coons did a tag-team deal and got 3 chooks in broad daylight before the guy could stop it. One was on each side and they stampeded the chooks back and forth and took turns grabbing and dismembering them. I have a fence charger too, with 4 courses of hot wire for the critters to try their hand at. 4 KV, 5-mile charger that costs 70 cents a year to run. What a bargain!

 

[Bizzybirdy]

Why don't you put a hot wire around the fence or do something to make sure this does not keep on happening???

Sounds like a racoon for sure.

 

[wombat]

Sounds like a racoon.

If you don't have a trap yet, put some flour down around the coop and check for tracks in the morning, at least you'll know what you're dealing with.

 

[jjthink]

So sad...
Is this all happening during the daytime?
Unfortunately, everybody needs to be in lockdown till this is sorted out. 3 strikes is way too many and the 4th will be anytime now.
It does sound like it could be a raccoon.
JJ

 

[magikchick]

What ever it is is not comming thru the chain link fence. It's reaching thru and grabbing. So I'm finding the dead chickens on the inside of the fence. Except for the chicks which are small enought to pull thru.

 

[jjthink]

You need hardware cloth over your fence and until then the birds need to be indoors.

 

[gsim]

I forgot to mention that if you have chainlink only, weasels can go right thru it. Current pred is a coon for sure.