Something attacked my chickens this morning! ID?

[Weeg]

It could of been a weasel, mink, or even a Fisher Cat. They can fit through any hole that your finger can fit through. They'll go for the jugular. In some cases, they'll try pulling the birds through the fence. Your rooster is probably the hero, but possibly something else (like maybe one of your cats) is probably what scared it completely off. I had something in the weasel family try killing some of my chickens once, and my guineas saved the flock. As far as the ducks, they were probably too much work for the moment as far as what the predator was looking for. It was probably going after what was the easiest, and your rooster came over to give it a hard time. I suggest some blue coat for your injured birds to prevent pecking from the other chickens. The predator will be back for more, and next time, your chickens might not be so lucky. If you want to keep your chickens outside, I suggest a secure coop, or a nightgaurd. If it's a day-time predator, perhaps some electric poultry netting will help.

This is basically what I was thinking. We don't have any electric poultry netting, but we do have electric horse wire though I don't know if that would help much. I will defiantly try to secure the coop today. Thanks for all the advice! I can ry to get ahold of some electric poultry netting.

 

[Weeg]

Sometimes pulling feathers out causes impressive bleeding, and no wounds in the skin. Wattles and combs will bleed a lot too, so is that a possibility?

On one of my bleeding hens, there were places were feathers were pulled. She was kinda beat up already, (hence her being in the duck pen), but there was blood on her neck so it is possible that there could have been some minor feather pulling to cause the bleeding. It didn't seem like to much blood was coming from were her feathers were though. Thank you for the advice!

 

[cmom]

The electric horse wires will work. If you can put the bottom wire pretty low. Maybe you can bait the wire to get the critter to touch it and feel it. Once it gets zapped there is a good chance it will stay away. It won't kill it but it should get the message.

 

[cmom]

There is a thread by Howard E where he grounded what I think was chicken wire around some apple trees to keep critter from getting his apples.

 

[Weeg]

The electric horse wires will work. If you can put the bottom wire pretty low. Maybe you can bait the wire to get the critter to touch it and feel it. Once it gets zapped there is a good chance it will stay away. It won't kill it but it should get the message.

Okay, good idea. I will get on that. Hooking it up will be the hardest part, but hopefully we can make it work. Thank you!