My twelve 6 week old baby chickens disappears one by one and now im down to four.

[tempesta]

That's a shrew. They're related to hedgehogs and moles, they aren't rodents. And its wikipedia page says it can kill and eat chicks:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_house_shrew#Ecology_and_behaviour

thanks for the info. At least now i know what they are called, way back 2013 when we were on the verge of cleansing the rat infestation i can remember we can catch alot of these guys around, although they move slower than rats and mice.

 

[lazy gardener]

What ever the creature is, catch and release would not be an option if it were me. It would be catch and KILL.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Some kind of predator, a small one, is getting in and eating your chicks.... that is one hideous looking rat (shrew?) in the picture...that thing would get shot on sight.... LOL.

I read you are not liking the rat poison.... I understand about the smell, but you will never make a dent in that rat population without a concerted poisoning program. Rat poison for a start... you need to knock down that rat population. I like to use a bait station so no one else gets poisoned (except that hideous Jimmy Durante looking rat).... It could be that. It could be alot of things. Do you have Mongoose there in the PI? Any small predator could be doing it, I would secure those chicks in a separate more closely held container until you get a better fix to your perimeter. You have to close it in securely against all threats, airborne, crawling, large and small... someone said hardware cloth... If you already have the fence, maybe some chicken wire would be enough.... Smaller openings is what you need.
Whatever the killer, it is nocturnal and small as evidenced by it selecting your chicks first. It is likely coming in and out through the fencing. And it is going to keep coming back til they are all gone and then it might even start on the bigger chickens. Good luck with this one. (It is not your chickens that are doing that.),.

 

[tempesta]

What ever the creature is, catch and release would not be an option if it were me. It would be catch and KILL.

we do catch and kill for the really large ones. the small ones we just release them. And they are also sensitive to sunlight that if you leave them in the sun for a few hours they die quick.

 

[lazy gardener]

Why would you release the little ones? They grow up to be big ones.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Catch & release is NOT the way to go, they know where the food is and will return.

 

[tempesta]

Some kind of predator, a small one, is getting in and eating your chicks.... that is one hideous looking rat (shrew?) in the picture...that thing would get shot on sight.... LOL.

I read you are not liking the rat poison.... I understand about the smell, but you will never make a dent in that rat population without a concerted poisoning program. Rat poison for a start... you need to knock down that rat population. I like to use a bait station so no one else gets poisoned (except that hideous Jimmy Durante looking rat).... It could be that. It could be alot of things. Do you have Mongoose there in the PI? Any small predator could be doing it, I would secure those chicks in a separate more closely held container until you get a better fix to your perimeter. You have to close it in securely against all threats, airborne, crawling, large and small... someone said hardware cloth... If you already have the fence, maybe some chicken wire would be enough.... Smaller openings is what you need.
Whatever the killer, it is nocturnal and small as evidenced by it selecting your chicks first. It is likely coming in and out through the fencing. And it is going to keep coming back til they are all gone and then it might even start on the bigger chickens. Good luck with this one. (It is not your chickens that are doing that.),.

i guess your right, i think i need to use rat poison "again" on these predators as i checked on the chickens just now, i am down to 3 little chickens, the large ones are all good, i already moved the 3 remaining chickens back inside the brooder. and leave the larger ones outside and see what happens from there. for the mongoose no, we dont have them here in mindanao.

Chicken wire sounds good, as it is easier to find in the market here in our place, hardware cloth is harder to find as people here tend to sell painted chicken wire and sell them as hardware cloth, and sometimes even sell substandard stuff from china that gets rusted easily. (gotta have to check thoroughly to find the right item.)

 

[tempesta]

Catch & release is NOT the way to go, they know where the food is and will return.

Yes, i already moved the little chickens back to the brooder leaving only the large ones until this problem is solved. (they never touched the larger chickens though.)

 

[ChickNanny13]

Be careful with the rat poison, make sure it's where your chicks/chickens won't get into it nor other pets/animals, the dead body carries the poison. I prefer the spring loaded traps, instant kill.

 

[tempesta]

Why would you release the little ones? They grow up to be big ones.

we don't want to kill the little animals that's the reason we just release them from a faraway place from our house. (but i guess i have no choice and ill be using rat poison this time as things here have gotten worse.)