I think something is getting my chickens!

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  • Clay

    Grandmaster
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    Aug 28, 2008
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    Vigo Co
    I've got a small flock of chickens, before today I had 9 full sized hens (Road Islands, ISA Browns, Buff, and Barred Rock about covers them), and then I had 9 Mille Fleur Bantams.

    The bantams are 2 groups: 3 are ones I've had for a while and 6 are their babies. 3 of them are roosters, 3 of them are hens.

    On Sunday when the chickens were out roaming the yard my kids found one with a pretty good open head wound on the back side of his head, skull exposed. I cleaned it up, and my mom (veterinarian) sewed him up. He appears to be doing fine. I chalked this up to a rooster right since the 3 young boys are starting to show dominance.

    Then yesterday I noticed I was suddenly missing another of the young bantam roosters. I thought maybe he got out, even though that would be very difficult. There were a lot of feathers in the coop but they were mostly from the normal chickens so I thought maybe they had a tiff. So last night I locked the chickens in their coop. My wife let them out into the run this morning.

    Today I go home for lunch and find that of the 9 Mille Fleur Bantams I have, 3 of them are alive (1 original rooster, and 2 young hens), 1 of them is badly injured and scared to death, 2 are dead, and 1 is completely gone. One of the dead ones is completely missing it's head. (one was already missing, and the other is currently in rehab for a head wound).

    In addition one of my ISA brown hens had some very bad trauma to it's face where it was basically split wide open, part of the top of its beak was missing, it was bad, so I had to put her down.

    SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO my initial thought before today was we had some rooster fights and a missing rooster, but now with all this carnage I'm thinking something must be getting into the coop. So what would get into the coop, kill a bunch of chickens, remove the head from one, and take a complete one? The only way anything could get in is through the roof ventilation which I'm going to close up tonight, but what ever it is has to be small, like a mink or similar.

    thoughts?
     

    Thor

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    Jan 18, 2014
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    Could be anywhere
    The chicken blood frenzy can be a thing to behold...then again the estimate of a ferret class creature could work too. Sounds like it's not open to the sky so you should be able to rule out raptors. Good luck. (so, obviously I'm of no help here.)
     

    Leadeye

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    Raccoons are the most common chicken problem, but they usually eat them.

    A friend of mine and fellow Ingo poster who lives nearby had to build a fortress to keep chickens here in the GSF.
     

    kolob10

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    Nov 28, 2008
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    Beautiful Southern Indiana
    Coons do their work at night and eat on the spot. Coyotes kill and go to a secluded dining hall. Raptors either kill or miss clean - rarely more than one victim. Bobcats dine at night and rarely kill more than one victim. Could be a smaller predator - ie weasel, mink, rat, etc. Sounds like it could be an internal struggle. Protective rooster or bad tempered hen. I once had a hen that even ran the rooster off when he got near. watch them closely in the evening when they go to the hen house or just after they wake in the morning. You can tell the aggressive culprits then. Also when you first let them out of the hen house they reaffirm the pecking order first thing in the a.m.
     

    patience0830

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    Not far from the tree
    Coons do their work at night and eat on the spot. Coyotes kill and go to a secluded dining hall. Raptors either kill or miss clean - rarely more than one victim. Bobcats dine at night and rarely kill more than one victim. Could be a smaller predator - ie weasel, mink, rat, etc. Sounds like it could be an internal struggle. Protective rooster or bad tempered hen. I once had a hen that even ran the rooster off when he got near. watch them closely in the evening when they go to the hen house or just after they wake in the morning. You can tell the aggressive culprits then. Also when you first let them out of the hen house they reaffirm the pecking order first thing in the a.m.

    Concentrate on the problem. It ain't the chickens. Coon is most probable. Buy 2 or 3 "coon cuff" traps. Bait with marshmallows and cat food. Kill the bastards in the morning. Seal any possible entrance if the problem occurred inside the coop.

    Mink is possible. Weasel would have killed all of ' em for fun.

    The price of chickens is eternal vigilance.
     

    nate77

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    I agree, set a live trap, or coon cuffs, coons are greedy, they'll keep coming back until they are killed, or the chickens are gone.

    All of the head wounds are probably from the coon trying to pull them through the fence, also the one with the missing head is also a dead giveaway that it is a coon.
     

    Hkindiana

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    I had a skunk tunnel into a pen in which I had over 100 quail. He hunted down and killed EVERY bird in one night. He ate a few, and then carefully stacked them all in a corner of the pen. I had no idea what the culprit was until I trapped him the next night coming back for another meal. So, maybe a skunk is attacking your chickens - it's a bad year for them.
     

    Wolfhound

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    Yeah we had raccoons killing several at a time. Then a weasel got into them and killed every single one. We got out of the chicken business after that. As said earlier chickens require constant vigilance. Every critter out there wants to eat them.

    Odd thing, we raised quail for a few years and nothing ever messed with them.
     

    Phase2

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    Dec 9, 2011
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    What type of fencing do you have around your chicken coop/run? I've become a firm believer in 1/2"x1/2" hardware cloth. Chicken wire holds in chickens. It is only a hindrance to predators who can rip through it. Larger gap fencing allows smaller predators through and allows raccoons to reach in and kill birds. Also, that fencing should be firmly anchored to the frame (short staples are not sufficient). Finally, some predators will dig underneath, so ideally you also have either rocks around the entire perimeter or bury 12"+ of wiring under the ground.

    For any that might have an interest, there is an excellent forum for small-scale chicken (and other bird) owners: https://www.backyardchickens.com/

    PS- If you free-range your birds, you will have periodic casualties. You can mitigate the problem, but not eliminate it.
     

    Clay

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    My entire exterior fence is 1/2" x 1/2" hardware cloth. The fence is attached with wood screws and washers so they cover a bigger area of the fence. Around the ground I have railroad ties, and the fence is buried about 6" - 8" past ground level.

    The "roof" is a black plastic chicken "wire", which was really to keep flying predators out. Unfortunatley for me I think that's were the predator got in. I had a small rip in that plastic fencing where my door caught it which allowed them entrance.

    I don't full time free range. I usually let my birds out every day in the afternoon for a few hours.
     

    Yukon1

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    I had the same problem. I place a trap near the coop in the only area I thought something could get into the coop. I caught a very large rat. That was three weeks ago and I haven't had a problem since.

    Good Luck
     

    Lucky

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    Jan 27, 2010
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    Shelbyville
    I have lost several ducks this summer and figured it was a raccoon until my grandson caught an owl in the act. My wife seen it after that on several occasions. We have lost about six ducks to him. Talked to DNR officer and was told I couldn't kill the damn thing. I had to put a cover over the pen with chicken wire to keep it out. That just don't seem right on so many levels. Why should I have to feed it or go to the additional expense to keep it out. I used to sell free range eggs from them, not any longer, cant let them out without the damn owl getting them. I bet if I went to the neighbors barn and killed a pig to eat they would have no problem dealing with me, but an owl, no way. If I doing anything to it I can be charged with a felony. We have allowed things to get turned around IMHO.
     

    spencer rifle

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    We've had them all - possums, coons, red-tailed hawk, Cooper's hawk, weasel/mink. Possums killed nearly all (1 survived barely) and ate 1. Coon killed the last one a few weeks later. RT got them in the middle of the day on the hottest day of the year. Plucked them on the spot and carried the body off. Cooper's attacked them in the enclosed yard, even though we had bird netting over most of it. Weasel/mink took the head off one but couldn't get it through the fence. Took the feathers off the neck of another. We live near a park, so we get all the lazy wildlife.
     

    Mcolson181

    Marksman
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    Nov 11, 2012
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    SE Indiana
    I have mine in an open coop but inside Premier 1 electric chicken netting. I had 4 get killed over the night time hours, 2 the 1st night then 1 each the next two nights. All 4 had the head and neck missing. I think mine was either due to a mink being small enough to run through the squares in the netting our an owl coming over. I set to live traps and haven't lost one since. I have no clue what really got mine. I'm thinking about getting a guard goose.
     

    CountryBoy19

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    Nov 10, 2008
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    Bedford, IN
    Skunks normally go after the eggs but they are in the weasel family and they are sport killers... I caught one a few years ago. Took me a while to get him but finally caught him in the coop eating eggs one night so I walked up to the coop and just shot him through the wall (7/16 plywood) with suppressed 22 handgun and when he came out hurtin' I finished him. He was sport-killing the chickens and leaving the bodies after he had his fill of eggs. I first came aware of his presence when I heard a ruckus middle of the night and looked out to see him chasing a chicken through the yard in the dark. His visits were random and I could never pin him down or get him in a trap. Several weeks (and dead chickens) later, my MIL was in town and she likes to sleep with the window cracked; she heard a ruckus in the coop and alerted me. I could smell him as soon as I stepped outside so I knew not to open the coop. I got a glimpse of where he was by looking through a crack and walked around to that side of the coop so I was sure to hit him even if the plywood deflected the 22 a bit...
     
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