Raccoon or Weasel?

[Eliaria]

Recently I’ve had someone breaking into my coop. It’s an older shed that needs new gutter boards which is where the culprit is getting in at. At first it would only kill them and eat the neck area but the last two it cleaned out their organs (except one on each, a large round organ the size of a golf ball tossed into the middle of the coop. It climbed up the wood to get back out to the roof area and left a single paw print.

Each time their water would be bloody and sometimes an intestine would be in it as well. I suspect a raccoon but can’t tell based on the paw print. I have a live trap for a weasel that the creature dug under but didn’t enter. I plan to get a larger trap but just curious what others who have experience a mystery predator might think.

 

[50-45-1]

Sounds like maybe both the mentioned critters are possible and likley and throw in possum. Have you secured the coop at the point of breakin?

 

[lagrange chicks]

A weasel would not be able to eat much more than size of a golf ball at a time, I say coon. Sorry.

 

[Trish Howe]

Had my favorite hen killed in broad daylight when I first started. She had her throat ripped open. Two days later I saw a weasel running around in the lower meadow. A raccoon is usually a night time raider.

 

[2 Acres]

Yup. The smeared pad prints look coon-ish.

Get a box trap and a piece of banana. Coons love banana.

 

[Eliaria]

Update:

I fully believe it was a raccoon because I couldn’t catch it in the smaller trap and it pulled the lid off of my feed container and got into it and made a whole mess.

I had 2 survivors and took them to my aunt’s coop where they entertained her lone rooster. My oldest girl eventually passed away over the summer (she was 9ish) so my last girl stayed until our new chicks were old enough to bring home. I now have a flock of 7 pullers who are starting to lay and my 3 year old survivor.

We fixed the gutter boards. There were two spots where the critters could potentially get in so they’ve been completely repaired. I’m fixing a few suspicious locations in the fencing in the run (mostly the top and the spot where my dog tried to push through when he was younger).

My girls are doing great and the new ones are very sweet and most don’t mind being handled because my uncle babied them. They’ve been home for about 3 weeks and there have been no issues.

Pictured below are more paw prints I found in the coop after my first post.