Losing my chickens

[84Carter]

The same thing happened to by flock. Killed about 12 chickens over the course of a couple of weeks. Put up trail cameras outside of our pen and it was racoons. Killed in the same gruesome way (Head eaten but not much else).

 

[L Zielke]

Something has killed 4 of my chickens over a two week period. It only eats the head and leaves the rest of body intact. I’m leaning towards a possum or raccoon. I’ve set up game camera in coop to try to see what it may be. In the mean time I am removing the chickens from this pen and putting them in other smaller pens to try to protect them. Any ideas?

 

[L Zielke]

It's probably a weasel or a ferrite
They love to just eat the head( for the brains) and leave the rest of the body behind.
They are skinny and can fit through any slight hole or Crack.
Do you have a rooster? If not, that might help but he's got to be mean and feisty!!!

 

[Cynthia12]

I've had a ferral cat get mine. They we're free ranging in my back yard. Caught the cat.

 

[McChooky]

The hog wire was already there. We just didn’t think to put anything smaller over it. Even so a raccoon or possum can climb. I didn’t use to close the coop at night but I do now.

Cover your hog panels with 1/2" -1 " mesh hardware cloth or chicken wire and add an electric fence around it for peace of mind. Netting will keep aerial predators out.

 

[I Love Feather Babies]

Ended up being a possum. Saw it on game camera.

 

[I Love Feather Babies]

It's probably a weasel or a ferrite
They love to just eat the head( for the brains) and leave the rest of the body behind.
They are skinny and can fit through any slight hole or Crack.
Do you have a rooster? If not, that might help but he's got to be mean and feisty!!!

I have 3 roosters. A white Cochin with a bum foot, a black copper maran with a bum leg and a white leghorn who is almost a year old. The leghorn thinks he’s all big and bad.

 

[McChooky]

Ended up being a possum. Saw it on game camera.

You might find hardware cloth on sale at walmart online free shipping at 45.00

 

[aart]

Ended up being a possum. Saw it on game camera.

Did you see it take another bird?
Just because you trap it(on cam or in trap), doesn't mean that's what killed your bird.

 

[LoneOak]

In my area of middle Ga the weasels are what eats the heads off of chickens. I have had that exact same thing and let me tell you weasels are hard to trap and get rid of. I searched out weasel trap on Youtube to find out what to build and caught two. The problem disappeared.