My DH went out of feed and water the chickens and geese and was surprised when the geese didn't come to the gate to greet him. Also they were lying in several different places and not together as usual. When he got closer he could see that they were all dead. This is what he saw. I am very grateful for several BYC members posting on Longtailed weasel attacks. Their posts helped me identify the attacker. Not much blood, single bite to the neck, Left in place. The only one that had more damage was the one the weasel tried to pull through the fence but was unable to...that one had more damage to the head (but not much blood) 3rd picture down. We have frozen snow with a hard crust. NO TRACKS. It had to be something light weight It cornered this goose up against the fence. The following link will take you to the Nature Works site from nhptv.org http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/longtailedweasel.htm where there is an article with pictures of this preadator. We are in the process of replacing the fencing around our pen. I will now be adding a hot wire to the top and bottom and making a goose house where I can safely lock them up at night. We have had geese on and off for over 30 years and have only had 1 predator ever attack our geese. Our chickens all have predator proof coops and runs. We live near a brook so I don't think this predator will be relocating on his own. The longtailed weasel is about 1/5 the size of the geese that he/she killed. They jump on their backs and bite them in the neck severing the spinal cord. The 2 female african geese had no blood in evidence. The 2 Sebastapol ganders I guess put up more of a fight...but there was still hardly any blood. The most blood is seen in the top picture. The only disturbance in the snow was in the 3 rd picture where the weasel tried to pull the goose throgh the fence.
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I am always amazed by how predators kill them all and then leave them. A fox did this to my chickens. Why not kill one at a time? Is the predator minimising being fought off by killing them all at once? Sorry for you loss. x
