One chicken killed every day - picture of predator's footprints included. Help identifying?

[centrarchid]

Our farm always had at least some rats although most years their numbers were relatively low. They usually concentrated around corn cribs and hog breeding pens. Some years their numbers were really high and we would sit out in lawn chairs with air rifles and .22 rifles to shoot them although such efforts did not put a real dent in their numbers. One year their abundance was very high and they would walk between buildings in daylight. Normally they did not impact poultry except possibly a group of about 100 laying hens in the hen house where dead hens were largely consumed during the course of a night. The gamehens brooding eggs and chicks on ground under mangers took a hit that year as well and honorable predators did not stand a chance hunting in those areas without dogs putting an end to them. We had two coonhounds running about as livestock guardians that hunted rats almost continuously and they seemed to have an effect but they also damaged structures with their digging. The part that would be difficult to believe if not for multiple witnesses was the red-tailed hawk that came into barnyard to hunt rats collaboratively with dogs. Dogs were poultry safe and hawk did not seem to interest them. Problem for hawk was rats spent most of their time under structures where hawk could not get. The dogs were kind of bone headed using nose only and generally were slow to take advantage rats running in open. Hawk took to getting those and got so into habit that it would walk about on structures low enough to be hit by dogs tails. When rat bolted hawk would gently glide after it and catch it and usually consumed it on ground with dogs still working trying to get another rat out. Hawk also consumed only the goodies of the viscera like liver and heart with only some muscle. During those days I was under the impression red-tailed hawks did not go after chickens which was largely correct with our dogs present.


Key point of ramble is rats go after the soft parts of poultry but they did not kill them during daylight hours.

I still want to see a picture of a kill site.

 

[redneck farmer]

Ya my best suggestion would be to sit in a chair about 30 feet for your chickens an let them do the same thing as when u were cleaning the coop an when u turned around the chicken was dead but this time be in a chair with a Varmet gun or a 22. Rifle an when whatever it was try's to kill them give it one right to the ole noggin an problem solved
( may want to do it twice after u kill whatever it was cause there could be more an make sure to drag dead carcuses far away from kill site an get rid of anything left over in snow , blood , guts , fur don't leave that near coop site or even anywhere on your property

 

[Cebarmlds]

We have seen a fisher in the area recently and tracks near the coop. The tracks looked a little bigger than a domestic cats and some of the tracks had a tail drag. I don't know for sure if the tracks belonged to the fisher. Maybe you have a fisher in the area this time of year the female is looking for a hollow tree to birth the babies. Also the racoons and skunks are hybernating.