- Apr 10, 2011
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UPDATE - see post #5 - culprit may be crow/raven!
Well, we are still having consistent meat bird losses. We raise them out on pasture, in Kencove electronet, a few hundred yards from the house (unfortunately not in close view), on our small farm. A while back, we started finding on average one killed per day. The body is always left behind in the netting with the other chickens, and usually the head is gone and the neck gnawed down to the bone. Once or twice the head was still on, and once or twice the vent end was opened up. It had most of the time happened in early morning, it seems, but sometimes in broad daylight (chickens were fine when we checked in the morning, but then one dead in the afternoon or evening). Usually only one kill at a time, a few times there has been two. It has happened to chicks 4 weeks old, and almost full-grown 7 week CornishX.
We started fencing them in their shelter (a truck cap) with hardware cloth at night, and that worked for a few weeks. One night we didn't get out there, and sure enough the next morning there was a kill. But a few days ago we started losing them in the daylight again.
Now, just about everything about the kill/remains matches what I've read regarding weasels, except there hasn't been any massacres. This may make sense, as the massacres seem to happen in coops, where the chickens are trapped, whereas for us they are in an 40x40 electronet. The net has a good charge, and has 100% kept them fortified against foxes, coyotes, coons, etc. We also have layers and pullets out on the pasture, and they have never been harmed. However, with the small size of the weasel, I think it could dart under or through the netting (the openings near the ground are I think 2x4 or 3x4 inch) without getting zapped and deterred.
But the kills may also match a hawk or owl? Though, the necks are always on the body still, not taken off with the head. A couple times I have heard crows, and seen one out in the netting, but I think they are just eating the carrion - only after seeing crows have I found carcasses where the flesh was eaten, not just the head/neck. But, I would think hawks or owls wouldn't leave the small, 3-4 week old chicks that were first killed and now killed?
I've been baiting and setting traps (rat traps, longspring traps, conibears), within and without "weasel boxes," in the netting near the chickens and out and about near culverts, woods, etc., and have had no luck. Nor have we seen the culprits. Last night I put some chicks in a rabbit cage, full view, and put traps around them, but the enemy didn't hit until the afternoon. We've lost probably 30 meat birds at various ages, and are getting despaired. I may have to start camping out all day with a shotgun, but with our luck it won't come by til I give up. Arghhh!
Well, we are still having consistent meat bird losses. We raise them out on pasture, in Kencove electronet, a few hundred yards from the house (unfortunately not in close view), on our small farm. A while back, we started finding on average one killed per day. The body is always left behind in the netting with the other chickens, and usually the head is gone and the neck gnawed down to the bone. Once or twice the head was still on, and once or twice the vent end was opened up. It had most of the time happened in early morning, it seems, but sometimes in broad daylight (chickens were fine when we checked in the morning, but then one dead in the afternoon or evening). Usually only one kill at a time, a few times there has been two. It has happened to chicks 4 weeks old, and almost full-grown 7 week CornishX.
We started fencing them in their shelter (a truck cap) with hardware cloth at night, and that worked for a few weeks. One night we didn't get out there, and sure enough the next morning there was a kill. But a few days ago we started losing them in the daylight again.
Now, just about everything about the kill/remains matches what I've read regarding weasels, except there hasn't been any massacres. This may make sense, as the massacres seem to happen in coops, where the chickens are trapped, whereas for us they are in an 40x40 electronet. The net has a good charge, and has 100% kept them fortified against foxes, coyotes, coons, etc. We also have layers and pullets out on the pasture, and they have never been harmed. However, with the small size of the weasel, I think it could dart under or through the netting (the openings near the ground are I think 2x4 or 3x4 inch) without getting zapped and deterred.
But the kills may also match a hawk or owl? Though, the necks are always on the body still, not taken off with the head. A couple times I have heard crows, and seen one out in the netting, but I think they are just eating the carrion - only after seeing crows have I found carcasses where the flesh was eaten, not just the head/neck. But, I would think hawks or owls wouldn't leave the small, 3-4 week old chicks that were first killed and now killed?
I've been baiting and setting traps (rat traps, longspring traps, conibears), within and without "weasel boxes," in the netting near the chickens and out and about near culverts, woods, etc., and have had no luck. Nor have we seen the culprits. Last night I put some chicks in a rabbit cage, full view, and put traps around them, but the enemy didn't hit until the afternoon. We've lost probably 30 meat birds at various ages, and are getting despaired. I may have to start camping out all day with a shotgun, but with our luck it won't come by til I give up. Arghhh!
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