Raccoon killed chickens - feed to dogs?

[cluckmecoop7]

You dont list where you are located, but if i had that result here in northern michigan with those tracks i would almost be sure i had a mink or martin.
Your unwelcome guest will return tonight for more fun. Take a whole chicken or a bloody piece of one that he killed and wire it to the trip pan, or in the back of a have a heart trap. It depends on what type of trap you have. Some have trip doors on each end, others one trip door. If you have to go buy one or borrow from a friend or neighbor, do so. Make it the medium size for racoon. Test fire it several times to make sure its not hanging up. Put it right in the coop where the chickens were.
Only trap this animal of you are prepared to kill it. You can not relocate as you will only give your problem to another chicken owner.
I am sorry for your loss!5
Last fall a weasel (a small cousin in the mink, martin family) found a way into my coop at night. A coop that i thought was impurvious to preditors. He killed my broody hen, all of her chicks and 2 other adult birds. The next night i caught him by wireing one of the dead baby chicks to the pan of a small have a heart trap. Its almost a sure thing your ermine will return.
Here is my weasel the next morning.
View attachment 1633577

Did you kill it? How?

 

[be4morgan]

I am so sorry to hear about what happened to your chickens. I think its time to set up a trap to capture these heartless raccoons.

 

[aart]

It’s far too big.

Nothing there for scale?

 

[roosterhavoc]

Nothing there for scale?

Yes there was.

 

[Amart]

Because those aren’t raccoon tracks.

View attachment 1633884
That track is not a mink, Fisher, marten or any kind of weasel. It’s far too big.

I meant to take a ruler to
Show you scale. It is a rather large print. 2-3” in length. I should measure it tomorrow.

Thanks!

 

[Amart]

Did you kill it? How?

No I haven’t caught it yet.

 

[Amart]

I meant to take a ruler to
Show you scale. It is a rather large print. 2-3” in length. I should measure it tomorrow.

Thanks!

I know I’m replying to my own comment...but you are totally right. Those look nothing like raccoon tracks. I found 17 dead birds...but I actually don’t know how many I had...I may have had a couple more...I don’t know. Do possibly the predator dragged away a bird or two.

Bobcats a pretty uncommon in our area, but I think those definately look like bobcat tracks when I compare to google searches. There are no claw marks. Single set of tracks and one predator killed at least 17 birds...my money is now on a bobcat. Gotta trap in now

 

[Eggscaping]

I’ve included a couple of pictures of prints in the snow of the predator.

I'm really sorry for such a terribly sad situation. But, to me anyway, the pictures do not look like any of the racoon tracks I've ever seen. Raccoon prints are longer and more pointy. More like hands than paws. You might google images of 'coon tracks...there are lots of images but none look as 'round and blocky' as your images.

 

[Chick-N-Daddy]

Thanks for your reply! I have an open top to my outdoor run, I assume the raccoon climb the hardware cloth and hop in through the top. No other damage elsewhere, nothing dung underneath. I haven’t been closing the coop door at night, so I suspect that’s the issue. When I get new hens, I will be vigilant about closing them in their coop at night and letting out in AM. In previous yrs we’d have attacks that might take 2-4 chickens, then i’d be more vigilant. I never thought all 17 would be taken out in 1 night without warning.

I’ve included a couple of pictures of prints in the snow of the predator. One of the heads was bitten off. The remainder of birds were killed By one or 2 puncture marks in the neck. The killing method and the fact that 16 of the 17 birds were killed without anything really eaten and the nocturnal attack suggest to me - raccoon. Only other thing I can think of is cat...but the prints would have been huge for a cat, and I don’t think cats would kill
that many.

Thanks

Compare with these Lynx prints

Source:
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-f...n-melting-snow-in-winter-spring-96452243.html

 

[Radian]

Save a few to use as bait in traps. Dukes dog proof, wire traps, and conibear (depending on where you and your neighbors are) are great for dealing with rocky the murdering raccoon. sorry to hear about that.

And yes, I have fed dogs chicken, deer, etc as long as it was processed in a manner you would eat the same meat.