Traumatized by Raccoons

[LateBirdFarms]

I took the family out for the first time in two years, and came home to an absolute slaughter. 12 of my 16 hens plus my rooster and 5 out of 6 silkie chicks are missing their heads. One chicken is just gone. I've lost the occasional bird to predation over the years, but never a total flock devastation like this. I know exactly how it happened, which makes none of it easier. Part of my very large currently interconnected pen system lost its roof to a falling branch last week when a storm blew through, and since we don't have an issue with ground predators (9/10 there's dogs around the chickens 24hrs a day), mainly aerial when the girls were free ranging, I thought I had time to get around to fixing it. Turns out I was wrong. Because we left during the day, and the dogs ended up in the garage because of a bit of rain, and no one was around to close up the coop, I guess it was the perfect opportunity. Don't get comfortable, ever! All I have left are a silkie cockerel chick, a black silkie hen and two production reds. My EEs &OEs, hamburgs, cochins, FBCMs... gone.

 

[-Flash-]

Oh no! That's horrid. Once I lost my whole flock in one night.

 

[LateBirdFarms]

I've heard the stories, but I've never seen such a bloody, feather frenzy mess! I'm still trying to clean up! My surviving chickens are paranoid and twitchy! All I've heard all day are warning screams out of them..

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Turns out the raccoon family was not to blame. It was something in the weasel family. A shame, they're relatively rare around here, but the jacka$$ has got to go!

 

[Folly's place]

I'm so sorry! And it did sound more like a weasel of some sort, not that it's better.
Raccoons can make big messes too, sadly. And we lost 3/4 of our flock a few years ago to one of our own dogs, when our fencing failed. Also awful!
Any breach can be exploited by some critter, who's been out there waiting for that perfect opportunity. Not how you wanted to add to your flock either.
Mary

 

[cmom]

There are plenty of videos of weasels killing birds on YouTube. They are relentless. I hope you can catch it and eliminate it. It will be back for more. Good luck...