What Could This Predator Be?

[lazy gardener]

Any tracks in the snow? It would have been a fairly large animal to remove them without leaving any drag or skid marks, especially if you have soft snow, like we do now. Coyote, fox, coon. As for keeping your birds safe from mink/weasel: if you could push a quarter through it, one of these could get in. 1/2" hardware cloth, well secured over all openings is needed. The predator will be back.

 

[pasuit]

I think that we will definitely consider bringing them inside until we put the wire up. And I think that you are right that it was some sort of mink-like creature that could kill stealthily.

 

[HannahL]

These are some pictures of the damage. I also included a picture of my coop. Sorry for the bad lighting. Hope this helps!

 

[007Sean]

I was thinking that also. I think they stack the bodies... and come back for them later. So maybe between the time it happened and they were... well, not found.

A typical "mink kill" will be that they eat the head and leave the rest. Appearently, they have an affinity for brains. They also seem to have a blood lust, just enjoy the kill, and will repeatibly kill every bird in the coop. I don't think it was a mink, fisher or martan because of the missing bodies.

 

[HannahL]

Any tracks in the snow? It would have been a fairly large animal to remove them without leaving any drag or skid marks, especially if you have soft snow, like we do now. Coyote, fox, coon. As for keeping your birds safe from mink/weasel: if you could push a quarter through it, one of these could get in. 1/2" hardware cloth, well secured over all openings is needed. The predator will be back.

It's difficult to see any tracks in the snow as it rained today so a lot of snow melted. In the pictures I included you can see lots of human footprints but it's hard to see any predator prints.

 

[pasuit]

It's always heartbreaking to lose a pet. It's a good idea to keep them inside until you're sure your coop is secured. Good luck.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

View attachment 1233289 View attachment 1233285
These are some pictures of the damage. I also included a picture of my coop. Sorry for the bad lighting. Hope this helps!

Is all that brown looking stuff the blood?

That looks like more than my version of a "few drops" of blood.

 

[HannahL]

Is all that brown looking stuff the blood?

That looks like more than my version of a "few drops" of blood.

Some of it is leaves. I just meant that like it wasn't a ton of blood when you consider that four large ducks were killed.

 

[HannahL]

I was thinking that maybe it was a couple of coyotes or something. Because if it was a mink or fisher or something that how could it squeeze four ducks between the small space it must have used to get in? Thank you all so much for replies so far! It has helped so much.

 

[Welshies]

I was thinking that also. I think they stack the bodies... and come back for them later. So maybe between the time it happened and they were... well, not found.

No, weasels don't return for the bodies.