Weasels I guess?

[cinderbay]

No sooner I responded to my other topic this morning I rolled out of bed and looked out my front window to see ALL my meat birds (cornish) scattered around the chicken tractor. I hollered to hubby to go out there asap while I was gathering the dogs to put them outside.
He came in to say there were dead one.
We managed to pick up the dead and easily herd the rest back under the tractor. Thank goodness they are food motivated.
But we lost about 10. They had bites on their backs/sides. I didn't notice any backs of heads missing, and they all had heads intact. A few still felt warm even though it was cooler last night this morning.
What else would do this? There is no damage to the tractor so the only entry would have had to been something with the ability to flatten out enough to get under it. Which also makes us wonder how the HECK the chickens got out!! 4 week old cornish x (all males).
Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions welcome.

 

[cinderbay]

P.S. they were not defeatherd but they don't have much for feathers considering the breed and none were shredded or mangled. Just bitten, bloody and dead.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That sounds like a weasel. I can't think of anything else that would do that. Obviously there is an opening big enough for the weasel to get in and the 4 week old chicks to get out. In your other thread you mentioned the ground was not level. My guess is that they could get out through a low spot under the sides of your tractor. It takes a tiny opening for a weasel to get in but a decent opening for broilers that age to get out. You might consider rigging up an apron for that tractor. Maybe some small mesh wire like 1/4" hardware cloth attached at the bottom but rigged so you can pull it up when you are moving the tractor.

You probably need to trap that weasel. You don't need bait. The weasel will crawl all over that tractor trying to find a way in if you can keep it out. If you set snap traps or even a small live trap there is a pretty good chance the weasel will blunder into it looking for a way in. A live trap would need pretty fine mesh wire to keep the weasel in.

Your dogs might provide an additional layer of protection, but not if they are locked in the house at night. But you don't want them disturbing the traps. To be honest a weasel would probably be able to sneak past them.

 

[cinderbay]

yes, we try to put the tractor on the flattest surfaces possible. We took extra care. There is some skirting/apron but I think in the panic they managed to get out. So a weasel could surely get in. I an so over this chicken farming lol We have several baited traps on the property we check daily. We've captured 4 coons so far that were killing our egg layers. I wish my dogs would be useful. My Standard Schnauzer, who has awesome prey drive also thinks the chickens are prey, My Lab thinks everything and everyone is her friend. My 5 lb Papillon would LOVE to kill a weasel.. but I think the weasel would kill him
I wish we could just keep all these birds in the barn but they start to stink after 3 weeks. Meat birds are just ... gross. But delicious. This is surely a learn as you go adventure.

 

[cinderbay]

Would a cat do this? I remember now there was a strange cat prowling on the hill near the field.

 

[BYCforlife]

I thought weasels went for the neck.

You have a top on your chicken tractor?

 

[BYCforlife]

Would a cat do this? I remember now there was a strange cat prowling on the hill near the field.

I don't think so.... My cat comes right up to my chickens, even when they are free run, and does not even THINK about trying to kill them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Was it a domestic cat or a Bobcat? Hos big was it?

Cats hunt and kill birds. Chickens are birds. To a certain extent most cats are cowards, it's a survival thing. If they get injured they can't hunt so they starve, at least that's the way their brain works. It's pretty rare for a domestic cat to tackle a grown chicken, though it is possible. A grown chicken might hurt them. A lot of cats will not bother baby chicks but some will hunt and kill them. The bigger the chick the safer it is from a cat. If it is your pet cat it may bring you a present, like they do with mice. A feral cat would hunt and kill for food. They normally start eating around the head.

It doesn't sound like a cat did it, though you can't rule it out. A domestic cat might kill for fun but those 4 week old broilers should be fairly big. A feral cat would probably eat the first one it killed. Cats normally kill by biting, did that look like bite marks? You can look on the bodies for claw marks where the cat would be holding it while it bit it.

If you find an opening big enough where the cat could get in maybe it was that cat but to me it sounds like a weasel.

 

[cinderbay]

No claw marks but definite bite holes. The cat was domestic. A very big domestic. Our barn cat is a tiny thing and she LOVES chicken. She sleeps and lays with our egg layers all the time. But the egg layers are in a barn on the other half of our property.

Our tractor does have a top.
It's built like this
https://abundantpermaculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SAM_0544.jpg

Was it a domestic cat or a Bobcat? Hos big was it?

Cats hunt and kill birds. Chickens are birds. To a certain extent most cats are cowards, it's a survival thing. If they get injured they can't hunt so they starve, at least that's the way their brain works. It's pretty rare for a domestic cat to tackle a grown chicken, though it is possible. A grown chicken might hurt them. A lot of cats will not bother baby chicks but some will hunt and kill them. The bigger the chick the safer it is from a cat. If it is your pet cat it may bring you a present, like they do with mice. A feral cat would hunt and kill for food. They normally start eating around the head.

It doesn't sound like a cat did it, though you can't rule it out. A domestic cat might kill for fun but those 4 week old broilers should be fairly big. A feral cat would probably eat the first one it killed. Cats normally kill by biting, did that look like bite marks? You can look on the bodies for claw marks where the cat would be holding it while it bit it.

If you find an opening big enough where the cat could get in maybe it was that cat but to me it sounds like a weasel.