What could be killing my chickens?

[aprophet]

if you are in hampton roads/Tidewater we do not have very many weasels, in the rest of the state there are a few , skunks are pretty bad in the rest of the state as well just not here in tidewater , sometimes when one surprises a coon it only has time to eat the head most times if the chicken were left there the coon would return and eat more they just don't really bury it like a bobcat will

 

[LilaCombs]

Well, I put a video camera in the barn and left it running. It wasn't long before the culprit appeared...a big fat raccoon! Unfortunately, my tape ran out before I saw all but I had 2 dead chickens the next morning and I saw him moving the live trap. We have reinforced the chicken coop again; however, it is an old barn that we have renovated into a chicken house so when we think we have it fixed, another hole appears. I had some poison in the live trap and I think Mr. Raccoon must have ate it since I have seen no sight of him since and also no more dead chickens (for about 4 nights now). Hallelejah! I hope he is gone. My chickens are still scared to go in at night but they are calming down some. What a summer for critters!

 

[mothrhen]

Quote:
Yep! I was thinking coon. I would leave the black snakes alone tho. If they're around it's because you have rats/mice. I would try the moth balls in a water bottle with holes in it and see if that keeps them away from those eggs. I would personally rather loose an egg or two to a snake than have my feed eaten or contaminated by rodents. That's just me tho. I hope you have no further losses to preditors.

 

[LilaCombs]

I am happy to reply that after 2 months, 30-40 dead chickens, and much money invested in traps, camera, and bait...the culprit was caught this morning...a huge racoon. It is a good Friday! He will not do anymore damage to me or anyone else. Enough said.
I would post a picture but have forgot how.

 

[sourland]

Congratulations, but continue to set the trap. There may very likely be more raccoons.

 

[LilaCombs]

I am going to try to post the culprits picture here.

 

[LilaCombs]

And yes, the trap will remain set. Here is how we finally caught him. We left the hole he dig in the bottom of the chicken house and on the other side, placed a live trap. It was a very small live trap and we made sure it couldn't be moved (stakes, concrete blocks, etc.). When he entered the hole, he was caught! I never thought it would actually work. I am going to leave it sitting there. He was a very large raccoon, probably from the 30-40 chickens that he has ate!

 

[JD4570]

Alright you got that one but usually where there is on there is more. I've killed 14 coons and 5 possums since June.

 

[SilkieBantams]

The best thing you could do is to kill him since that would be one less coon

 

[mrpekinduck]

Coon or weasel is my guess.