Weasel Solutions, Please?! (Warning Graphic Images)

[MysteryChicken]

So first off make sure you secure the rext of your chickens in the coop for tonight. It sounds like the coop door is open and whatever kills them while they are roosting and drags them out in the run. What ever it is can not carry the bird out the way it got in.
Is your run covered? The missing heads thing sounds like owl to me.
WhaTever it is will be back.
I have caught 2 weasels in my chicken life. Both of them came back the following night after the night of carnage. I put a piece of the dead bird or baby chick wired to the pan of a small havea heart trap and when he could NOT get access to the remaining birds he went in the trap for the bait. No not relocate!
Also tools you might find helpfull are baby monitors in the coop and trail camera. Both of these are necessary and extreemy helpfull if you are a chicken keeper. Good luck tonight! i am sorry for your loss of birds, your remaining are beautiful.

We barricaded the coop door that leads too the run to keep the rest of our chickens safe tonight, and set up small box traps with the chicken carcasses in it. We always had open coops without predator problems til now. Thanks for complimenting my chickens.
Just looked at owls killing chickens, and it doesn't fit with the attack on my chickens. If forgot to mention, I have a splash copper Maran roo that had part of his face chewed off, but is alive. I'll take a photo tomorrow.

 

[FowlWitch]

Yes, regular chicken wire. We don't have a whole lot of money, so what we normally get is normally around $75 - $80 maximum.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C89QJU0/?tag=backy-20
This is what I buy from Amazon. It's the most affordable option I've been able to find so far

 

[MysteryChicken]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C89QJU0/?tag=backy-20
This is what I buy from Amazon. It's the most affordable option I've been able to find so far

Okay, I'll check it out.

 

[roosterhavoc]

What do you think it was? I found no tracks, or anything like that. A opposum will attack, and eat from the back, or belly of a chicken. A raccoon will tear a chicken appart. I had cat troubles in the spring, got in, and ate my mom's OEGB hen. The cat left the wings of the chicken, and part of it's legs. The cat also left it's tracks.
The smallest weasel we have here in Michigan is the short tailed weasel.View attachment 1839259 Image from Google. It's a short tailed weasel.

I know what a weasel looks like. Since pretty much anything can get your chickens it’s most likely a raccoon.

 

[50-45-1]

I’ve caught long tailed weasel and I had him in my hand and he could not fit through 3/4 in opening chicken wire.

So yours was a male? In all species of the muskeloid family the female is nearly half the size of the male.
Also after death with the rigimortis......a live animal is a lot more limber than a dead one. all i can think is about OJ trying to put on the gloves.
The last weasel i caught last fall was the size of a chipmunk. Thats a baby chick wired to the pan. He killed 3 adult birds, one of which was my broody, and her 3 chicks.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I know what a weasel looks like. Since pretty much anything can get your chickens it’s most likely a raccoon.

I've experienced raccoon kills when we lived in Oregon years ago. I know what their kills look like. A raccoon killed, and ripped apart 4 of five of our turkeys, one was hanging off the fence by it's intestines.

 

[roosterhavoc]

So yours was a male? In all species of the muskeloid family the female is nearly half the size of the male.
Also after death with the rigimortis......a live animal is a lot more limber than a dead one. all i can think is about OJ trying to put on the gloves.
The last weasel i caught last fall was the size of a chipmunk. Thats a baby chick wired to the pan. He killed 3 adult birds, one of which was my broody, and her 3 chicks.
View attachment 1839279

I’m aware of the size difference and what happens after death since I trap for fur and skin them.
Did he bite the heads completely off your chickens??

 

[MysteryChicken]

So yours was a male? In all species of the muskeloid family the female is nearly half the size of the male.
Also after death with the rigimortis......a live animal is a lot more limber than a dead one. all i can think is about OJ trying to put on the gloves.
The last weasel i caught last fall was the size of a chipmunk. Thats a baby chick wired to the pan. He killed 3 adult birds, one of which was my broody, and her 3 chicks.
View attachment 1839279

Okay. I have too treat splash copper Maran of mine, who has part of his face chewed off.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I’m aware of the size difference and what happens after death since I trap for fur and skin them.
Did he bite the heads completely off your chickens??

They were chewed off, and eaten. The dark brahma was half eaten.

 

[roosterhavoc]

I've experienced raccoon kills when we lived in Oregon years ago. I know what their kills look like. A raccoon killed, and ripped apart 4 of five of our turkeys, one was hanging off the fence by it's intestines.

Raccoons, foxes and just about every other animal don’t follow some sort of human rule book. I know they will rip open some birds, sometimes just bite the head off etc.. mink and weasels usually bite the neck. Again they don’t usually take the head off but that is more common with raccoons.