How do skunks attack chickens ??

[al6517]

I had an attack recently and thought it was a racoon, so I have had the trap out these past few day's and all I have been catching is skunks 2 so far. I have seen Racoons tear an adult bird apart through a 1" opening in poultry wire and leave very little, My question is can skunks do the same ??, do they stalk and hunt the same way, through the wire I mean. My last victim was a 30lb Turkey is this possible??.

AL

 

[amazondoc]

Skunks are mostly scavengers, and predators on things like worms and slugs. They have small mouths, clumsy feet, and poor eyesight. IMHO they get blamed for a lot of things they don't do!

OTOH, I'm sure any self-respecting skunk would be happy to help you clean up any eggs that you leave lying around. They could also kill baby chicks. But if you're losing adult birds, I'd suspect a raccoon a LOOOOONG time before a skunk.

 

[horsejody]

My neighbor used to raise pheasants and chickens. He lost pleny to skunks. They are opportunists. If it is an easy kill and convenient they will do it.

 

[Their Other Mother]

I posted this last week. Very informative on different predator traits.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=97844

 

[al6517]

Quote:
Thats what I thought, just haven't caught the bugger yet.

 

[chicklover1122]

me too! well im gonna ask a question later but we keep our 6 (now 4) chickens in a big dog cage outside in our backyard, and so my sister heard the chickens screaming all night, but she didn't wake up till like 5 am and by then the skunk (or whatever) had left. my family came out and my mom said she smelled skunk smell but i didn't and im pretty sure skunk smells can like make you pass out. also one of my chickens head was missing, so it obviously had died and the other one was injured so badly it died within a few hours. now i have 4 chickens and my moms making sure the other chickens are safe even though im not sure... anyways it might be a racoon or skunk or cat maybe...

 

[littleoak]

I have had problems with skunks for the past few years. They can get through very small holes or under a fence. I don't agree that they only eat eggs since I have had them kill chickens and caught them in the act. They are aggresive little predators and don't run if they're in the middle of eating their kill. I have also found that they don't always leave a smell after killing chickens. I have eliminated most of them, but am always on the alert for more. They will get in a live trap after moistened dry cat food.

 

[chickenwisper]

woke up saturday morning to white feathers all over our silky pin 9 birds 8 young one adult rooster dead none eaten just feathers plucked out of there heads......... three are still alive but they are in bad shape one walks around in circles other just sits around and looks to stuff anyway after finding the feather i told my family this was 6:00 am i went out to clean up and there is a skunk holding down another hen pulling feathers out of here head needless to say the skunk died from lead shot..he dug under or gate small hold smaller then a adult fist my first thought was a weasel but proved me wrong skunk smelled up the coop bad

 

[Fluffychickens6]

A skunk just attacked my chickens one of my chickens escaped and is safe but one is laying down and screaming when we opened the coop the skunk ran out and now it left. What do I do?!?! Please answer fast!!!! My buff Orpington is just laying down screaming

 

[chickengeorgeto]

A skunk is little more than a mink or some other weasel with BAD body order. Like all predators skunks are always looking for an opportunity to either scavenge or kill a chicken or some other food. They especially like newly raked or mowed hay fields where there is a smorgasbord of dismembered shakes on the menu. Watch for this but the skunk breeding season is upon us. Soon dead skunks on the hunt for a mate will litter the roadways. You won't need to look for them, you can smell them before you get there.