What the heck is killing my birds?

[wvtim]

Electric Fence solved my problem with predators around the hen house - except for hawks

 

[hearts34]

Marten, gopher rat, skunk. It has to be something small enough to get inside the coop. Snakes would swallow hole. Possums usually eat from the bottom up, skunks and weasels will bite head off and suck out the blood like a vampire. Coons will usually eat the internal organs.
large predators like coyotes and foxes, bobcats will leave the country with the bird. But your damage didn't sound large enough for that size predator.

Now with adolescent varmits of all of the above, except snakes, the chewing off of the head is typical behavior. They are still learning and they know that's the kill spot. I hope all the best in your trapping efforts. Twenty hens is way too much to sacrifice for a varmit!

 

[Beekissed]

Electric poultry netting around your coop and run...whatever it is would have to cross it at some point. Those fences have got the juice!

My money is on a pair of weasels or stoats.


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[Suzierd]

He might be done with the old dead chicken, fresh bloody meat is better. But we can hope he goes in. I would put a egg in there too he might set it off fumbling around trying to carry it off.

 

[docmarkc]

Well... at 10:00 PM I went out to check. Then went back into the house to get the .22

Here is the results. Feeding on the carcass in the trap. She is BIG enough to kill a chicken, but I don't think that is common.

Reset the trap. I will check again in a couple hours.

 

[docmarkc]

02:30 and raining. Last check and nothing new in the trap.

 

[Mattemma]

I have caught my 3rd possum in recent days.I would recommend covering the trap so it looks like a tunnel for them.Shoot I don't even have any bait in mine lately.Sorry for your loss!

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

ow,, that's a hard one to figure out, rats and weasels like to tunnel and they can chew through almost anything, typically through they go for eggs and grain and kill at night, usually not large chickens. wieasels kill for fun andso do cats. A feral cat can do some damage too, and it will kill day or night and isn't afraid of domestic set ups.
I would drop some poison in the rat hole. REmove any hiding place near the coop and then really fortify the chicken area. It sounds like more than one predator, and you will have to eliminate it now that it found the restaurant. If you don't have time for vigilant sheparding, limit the time they spend outside to when you can watch them. with a good vantage point and apprropriate rifle. oh, açording to your local laws of course. second is traps, but not so effective.
another option is to provide yor chickens with cover, some place they can flee to and wwhere you can hear the alarm. dogs are wonderful deterents too. a border collie would work well with lllamas and chickens, they also hunt rats, and would like to spend all day watching their flocks. they are easy to train, think of the fun you could have hearding chickens with a dog, make foe some good video.
good luck with the defense,seems like as soon as I get one predator eliminated another takes it's place. this week it was either a coyote or a wolf, my husband shot at it and it dropped my hen but got away. Now the flock won't go across the road,finally. then a hawk. before that a cat,who is now dead,but spotted another cat too near us. It goes on and on.
the solution is to finish the perimeter fence And turn the dogs loose at dusk.Meanwhile vigilance and a strong coop.

 

[Jakl]

My solution to predators was to get a small flock of large gentle geese (Toulouse..there are others, I just don't suggest Chinese, or Canadian). Our geese leave people alone (play with them ALLOT until they go out of the brooder), but attack any strange creature.

We heard them one night screaming, and yelling, got the .22, and by the time we were out there, the coyote was headed out, and no way to get a good shot at him. The gander had fur hanging out of his mouth, but was unscathed.

Goats are also good at protecting chickens, when our last old goat died, we replaced her with geese.

 

[ButchGood]

I doubt a snake would eat the skin off of a chicken's head and leave the rest of it intact.

No way a snake did that. Snakes swallow their prey whole. They can take small chicks and eggs.