Weasel Attack on my White Fantails **Graphic Pics**

[Feathered Wings]

I know some of you know the feeling when something is wrong you are headed to your coops and cages to feed and everyone is silent.
You instinctively know something has gone wrong and you can sense someone has died or is injured.

I felt that this morning as i went to feed my many Bantams, Doves, Pigeons, Call Ducks, they always hear me open the door and there is crowing and quacking and cooing, wings flapping and feeders squeaking.
It's just really noisy at feeding time, But today it was dead silence "nothing" not a single feather was moving they all sat quietly on the bottom of their cages.
I know this cold feeling all to well and began to look and the first cage i passed was my Jacobin's their water was over turned and grit cup was empty and upside down.

Next cage my White Fantails and there she was lying on the bottom my female with her mate standing next to her body cooing and their 2 baby's sitting silently in their nest as if they knew their mother was gone.
My heart just sank I have had this friendly, happy pair for 3 years and they are my favorites just wonderful birds and they love to hatch and raise baby's, Just great parents.
I reached in and picked up her cold body and turned it over the weasel had chewed a whole thru her chest and for a moment i just stood there holding her.
Took her and laid her on my feed table and checked all the others and thankfully no one else was injured or killed

I went back to the cage and observed how the weasel had somehow pulled her to the top of the pen and had eaten her thru the wire or as i have heard drank her blood thru the wire.
This is not the first time this has happened i lost 10 doves over a period of a week about 2 years ago and it happened the same way.
He would frighten them and grab them as they hit the wire or attack the ones sitting on the cage bottom and drag them up to the wire eating them.
It is impossible to pull them completely thru the 1 inch wire so he holds them to the wire and eats what he can i had some doves with thier heads chewed off and others with their chest eaten out one only had his legs and tail left.
That time it was a full moon and last night it was a full moon so apparently just like a vampire weasels hunt by the light of the moon.

I solved the Doves getting killed with hardware cloth placed around the bottom and at the ends of the roost.
Today i will be looking into where and how he was able to catch her and it could have just been a fluke she could have just been frightened and hit the wire and he got her.
I know he will be back tonight and i plan on being ready!

I'm placing these graphic pics of her and her injuries i feel it's important to share these so others can see them and learn what a weasel attack looks like and how it occurs.
I uploaded them in size medium to cut down on them being to graphic

{Mods if you feel these are to graphic please remove them}

This first pic is of how i found her lying

These are her injuries

Here is where the weasel pulled her up to the wire

This is how high she was off the bottom when he attacked her, he caught her as she landed on the wire
Her mate is also in this pic

This is her mate he is still calling for her

These are the 2 baby's they were raising the male will finish taking care of them and it will help him to grieve less for his mate

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Are you certain it was a weasel?

I thought raccoons were the ones that are notorious for grabbing birds through wire. Don't think I've heard about weasels reaching through wire. Can they use their paws in such a manner? I googled it and could find a picture of a weasel or ferret holding anything. Just curious.

I believe you have a raccoon problem. To avoid any further predations, replace the chicken wire with hardwire cloth.

 

[KKatknap]

Ooooooohhhh... I'm so sorry.

What a sad, horrible thing to find. What beautiful birds.

I have heard that weasels are very clever killers...and they will just chew a hole and eat the blood. (ew) I am no expert, but I think a raccoon would have pulled the head through and chewed it off. I have had a little experience with raccoons. You are probably right that it was a weasel.

Very sad.

 

[chickensioux]

Ooh what beautiful birds. So sorry for your loss.

 

[Feathered Wings]

Quote:
Yes i believe it to be a weasel because the pigeon was simply bled not eaten and weasel are known for being blood suckers.
I had about 30 laying hens as a teen and a weasel would come and get them on the roost at night .
He would bite a hole in the side of their neck or chest and drink the blood i would find my hens with only those small wounds and dead.

The only injury to the pigeon was on her chest and no muscle was eaten he was only after the blood.
But weasels will chew off the heads and eat the flesh of chickens, pigeons,and doves

Our property is completely fenced and most animals won't come thru here as i have 3 dogs that patrol it.
I have never seen a coon here and i have been here 22 years we do have and occasional (very smelly)skunk but he eats the dogs food.