Who done it? lost a hen

[iachicks]

Live in the country so predators are everywhere, I do plenty of "pest control". Used to have a very significant coon problem in and around our barn when we moved in but have just started seeing and relocating some young ones, obviously a new litter. Anyway woke up this morning to my best layer dead in the run. one wing and her head had been pulled through the wire and head was missing. Partially eaten, not sure how much by the predator because the rest of the flock decided to get on clean up duty. Didn't know a ton about chickens when they were given to me, so run has 2"x4" 16 gauge wire around it, stapled very well knowing the coons and coyotes around. Couldn't find any loose spots for entry, top is also covered and stapled well. I think it must have been something small enough to go through the wire, and it had to jump or climb about 2ft to get into the coop. Head gone and unable to eat more or it and try to drag it off, I'm thinking weasel? Someone suggested rats but I have never seen one around the property.

Side note - I have had something digging at the edges of the bottom of the coop. I think it's just squirrels since it only happens during the day and they haven't gotten in, but I bought 300lbs of concrete while getting materials to board the survivors up tight for tonight inside the wood coop. Plan was to do a 4" wide strip about 1" thick around the entire edge of the coop, now I'm thinking about doing a 2"x2" strip with 24" of hardware cloth buried 1" under soil around it. What would you recommend? I will also be hardware clothing the run and not using the 2x4 wire any more.

 

[mnferalkitty]

weasel or rat is my guess, I didn't think I had rats by/in the coop either until I found half of a BIG rat carcass that the feral cats caught right by the coop

 

[iachicks]

Would a rat kill a full grown RIR and then try to drag the carcass off? Guess I just figured them as more of an opportunistic eater than a hunter/predator.