What is killing my chicks??

[Folly's place]

A marten has longer legs than a weasel, but is otherwise similar. At least here in the USA.
Mary

 

[Birdsong 82]

Oh. Guess we’ve never had them around here cause never heard of them. Just curious thanx

 

[Folly's place]

They are northern critters; upper USA, and Canada. The map shows that they are all over Europe though. I've seen one once, in northern Wisconsin, long ago.
Mary

 

[aart]

lower left of post

marten

marten

 

[cmom]

From wikipedia,

 

[Kippenboertje]

I’m sorry that meant to be I don’t know what a marten is I swear my phone changes things when I hit send

This is a marten:

 

[Kippenboertje]

And now as promissed, a picture of where it al happend.

At the back is the shed of my neighbor, rats are living under it. Bur the rat situation is more or less under control, The last week I didn't see one anymore. The poisson works!!
Unfortunately I'm out of poisson now. This kind of poisson is now banned in the EU, so I ordered a bag in Thailand. Hope that the customs people let it through.

 

[MROO]

Have mink moved into the rat holes? Mink are very serious KILLERS!
They just keep killing!

That's my first thought - a mink or a weasel. Put a concrete block over the "rat holes" and see what happens. If your new tenants dig in elsewhere, you know your visitors are living in the warrens under your coop and run. Unless you can identify all of the tunnel branches and eliminate all of the predators, you'll need to lay 1/2 inch (1 cm) or smaller hardware cloth across the entire bottom of your run.

 

[MROO]

If you have a cat or dog, try putting some "solid waste" inside the holes, and/or around the outside of your run. That may discourage predators, some.

 

[Kippenboertje]

If you have a cat or dog, try putting some "solid waste" inside the holes, and/or around the outside of your run. That may discourage predators, some.

Oh that is a good idea!! I once used cat hair around some plants that were eatem by mice. Didn't see one any more after that.