Help! Something's Killing our Chickens!

[MarkR]

For the past 3 or 4 nights, something is getting into our chicken run and killing chickens. The first time it was 2, and we had no idea what happened. A couple of nights later there was one hen dead. The next there were 5, and last night there were 3. Some are partially eaten, others are not. One's head was severed and laying about 10 feet from the body. So far we've lost about 10 hens and 2 roosters.
Our coop is an outside facing enclosed stall in our barn, with a fenced run covered with poultry netting. We've had chickens for over 2 years, and we've never had this problem. I stayed out watching from a distance till about 2am last night thinking I'd catch whatever was getting them. Saw nothing. Went back out at 4:30am, and three dead chickens laying out in the run, will all others still roosting in the coop. Thought maybe a raccoon could be climbing a fence post and getting under the netting, somehow a fox could be getting in? A weasel? Does Indiana even have weasels or minks? I have no idea - anyone have suggestions?

 

[mrjarrell]

Sounds like a weasel to me. Had that happen to our chickens many years ago. Set a trap and snapped his neck for him then crucified the body near where he was getting in. Never had another problem.

 

[jontheturboguy]

Had the same happen to us. Turned out to be a opossum doing the killing.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I lost a flock of 15 about three weeks ago, then 3 replacements I'd gotten last week.

I have trapped in a live trap 2 opossums and a raccoon.

Things that will kill chickens that live in Indiana: Opossums, raccoons, fox, weasels, minks, river otters (protected and unlikely), bobcats (protected and unlikely), coyotes, dogs, cats, owls and hawks (smaller chickens), and even some snakes (chicks).


Get some havahart traps and bait them. In the meantime shelter your birds overnight in a more secure cage.

 

[DHolder]

10 chickens lost in broad daylight yesterday! Neighborhood dogs! Some body should be held responsible for the dogs, or they should be impounded. $120 worth of good laying hens, because of irresponible owners is bologna. Racoons, opossom, even birds of prey are natural risks, and those losses are bad enough, but feral dogs ughh!

 

[sgt.porter]

We had a problem with weasels getting our chickens and rabbits years ago. They would eat the chickens from the inside out and leave the empty carcases laying around the run. Never knew one to rip heads off like that though. If your fence and netting is intact and there is nowhere a fox, possum, or coon can get in, then you probably have a weasel. IIRC a weasel can squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter.
Good luck getting rid of weasels. Use a variety of traps and bait them with bloody meat. Weasels become smart as coyotes, so you'll have to keep changing your methods.
If you're sure you have weasels, don't bother setting up an ambush, you'll never see them. We were only ever able to shoot one. We heard one of the dogs crying in the middle of the night and ran out to find it cornered by a weasel in the barn. .22 dispatched it before it knew we were there.

 

[TopDog]

My 76 year old father just told me the only way to get a weasel is to trap them. When he was 11 years old he was assigned weasel watch. Setting in the coup with a baseball bat, he saw a weasel, swung and killed a chicken. No more weasel watch, they went to traps.

 

[D-Ric902]

Sounds like a job for a .223

 

[mrjarrell]

Get some non-live traps that have a nice snap to them. That's how a caught the murderous little vermin that got mine. Would have worked just the same on a coon or possum. Saved me a bullet.

 

[Elkrock777]

Skunks and barn cats too. Use traps.
I think mink will kill and not eat them.

 

[hornadylnl]

I was hoping to free range some chickens in my woods but I just saw a fox just down the road from it the other day. I think I'll build a coup 100' or so from the house. I have a chance to buy some wire hog panels. I haven't seen them yet but I'm guessing they are 3' tall by 10' long. How tall will the fence around my coup need to be? I'm thinking of running the 3' panels 2 high for a total of 6' and putting chicken wire all around it. That should keep all the critters out, won't it? I wondering if coons would try dropping in from above.

 

[muncie1]

same problem here. we thought ours was an opossum. Foxes too can be a problem. Only got a couple of chickens and then stopped. Don't know why?

 

[shibumiseeker]

My zone alert woke me up after three this morning. I lost another chicken of the three I had, out of a solid coop from inside a cage. The only thing big enough to have done this was a weasel since the largest opening is a 1.5" crack at the door.

 

[caddywhompus]

My zone alert woke me up after three this morning. I lost another chicken of the three I had, out of a solid coop from inside a cage. The only thing big enough to have done this was a weasel since the largest opening is a 1.5" crack at the door.

You've had nothing but problems! I feel for ya. Next step: Moat?
Good luck and continue posting on this!

 

[bonzaiberger]

10 chickens lost in broad daylight yesterday! Neighborhood dogs! Some body should be held responsible for the dogs, or they should be impounded. $120 worth of good laying hens, because of irresponible owners is bologna. Racoons, opossom, even birds of prey are natural risks, and those losses are bad enough, but feral dogs ughh!

Thats an easy fix, shoot them!
If their owners can't take care of them then you should

 

[shibumiseeker]

You've had nothing but problems! I feel for ya. Next step: Moat?
Good luck and continue posting on this!

Motion tracking automatic weapons, mines, and 10,000 volt wire...

Naw, tonight a little bloody meat in the live trap, then I'll release it a few miles away near someone I don't like . There aren't usually hordes of weasels around, unlike coons and possums. Their range is only a quarter mile radius or so. I get rid of this one and the area should be clear for a while. I'll be building a predator proof coop this weekend and after that the weasels can come and go since they eat a lot of mice, squirrels, and other rodents.

I had three years of very little problem, so I suppose I am due.

 

[caddywhompus]

Yup. When it rains, it pours!

 

[hornadylnl]

I just had a guy tell me at work that if you keep goats around your chickens, coons and other critters won't go near them. Anyone else heard this?