Something killed 11 of my birds overnight

[Cara]

I just went to check on one of my coops, and found a massacre

Whatever the little poop was that killed two of my ducks a couple of months ago came back, killing five of my six 3 month old heritage turkey poults, four Pekin ducks that we were about to butcher, our new 'stud' duckling that we had bought to stop the flock from becoming inbred, and two of my chickens. I don't even have the stomach to clean it up right now, the turkeys' pen is full of legs, feathers and heads.

I think it must be a coon, it's eating the entire breast, crop and throat and leaving the rest, but it must have brought its family back. I thought I had it taken care of, I fixed the hole where I thought it had got in, and hadn't had a problem since. I set a trap last time with one of the dead ducks inside, but caught nothing. It looks like i'll have to have a stakeout tonight, and just my luck hubby is away

 

[Judymae]

Ohhhh I'm so sorry.....My hubby works out alot so I'm left to do most of the dirty work too. I know how you feel.

 

[Justino]

time to set traps, bring out the guns, and kill that thing!! I HATE COONS!!! they got my chicken i found the night i found it!!!

 

[Cara]

The only gun I can handle with confidence is a .22, and that's not going to do the trick. I'm worried if there are multiple offenders i'll miss some too, and i'm sure there must be to cause such a mess.

 

[farmgirlie1031]

I'm so sorry. When I was in High School someone human came and massacred almost all our geese, ducks, and chickens that we had for FFA Then we replaced them and a raccoon or something got them I know how you feel. It's awful.

 

[MissPrissy]

I hope you catch what it is that destroyed your flock. Sorry this happened.

 

[Cara]

Thanks for your sympathy guys, I never knew I could get attached to an ugly white tom turkey, but I loved his wibbly noise. DH insists they gobble, I know he wibbled. Would a .22 rifle do it? I could borrow one.

 

[bluey]

I think that putting a hole in the raccoon, even if it doesn't kill him, would be a nice deterrent. I do it all the time. Why make a kill shot when you can make it suffer for days for murdering your birds?

 

[chicken farmer meigs]

Yes a 22 would kill a raccoon. If you really want a gun then you should use a 20 gauge shotgun. a bigger shot pattren to hit them with. I would try to contact a your states fish and game for a name a trapper that could help you out, the trapper would have more knowlage on how to catch the animal that did this. Hope this helps, the loss of pets is never easy.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm so sorry, Cara. Wish I could help you with how to catch that sucker. Is your big black Orp cockerel safe? Hate for you to lose him after how badly you tried to get one of those!