what might be killing my chickens?

[TinaSC]

We sent out this morning to find 4 hens dead in the pen and 1 missing. Out of the 4, 1 had a broken neck, the other 3 had small half dollar sized holes in their backs. There is also 1 wounded with the same half dollar size hole on her back. No sign of anything going under the wire anywhere at all. We live in SC. We have seen a few hawks now and then, we do have opposuums as well. But they were caught to eat by the looks of them. Any thoughts?

 

[RodNTN]

Sounds like a opossum or raccoon. How secure is your pen? Could you possibly post a pic of your pen?

 

[bigmrg74]

A raccoon sized live trap is always a good investment to make. you can catch all sorts of chicken killers in one of them. Stray cats, raccoon's, Opossums, skunks and stuff about that size. Just remember if you're not going to follow the 3 S's, to release it at least 2 hours away from your place out in a large forested area so that the animal just won't come back and be just that much more wary of live traps.

 

[kabaluch76]

Sounds like it could be a weasel too.