New Predator

[Tormund]

The Rooster died this morning. Decided to do an animal necropsy and the ribs under the bite were broken with 2 punctures down into the lungs.

RIP Punky Rooster

His Son Silky will be the lone rooster (with 12 hens) until our Current broody hatches out her eggs.

 

[BDutch]

Sorry you lost your Punky Rooster

You did a lot to keep predators out. But obvious the 6’ high fence is not high enough for some nasty predators. I don’t know about racoons, because we don’t have them where I live, but I do know foxes and some other predators can climb over it.
If you want to make your hole property more safe, probably the easiest to do is add shock wire.

and the rest made out of 1 inch metal cloth.

Mice can go through 1” hwc. And for minks, weasels and martens can pass very small openings too.
If you lived in Europe I would have thought the predator was one of the mustelids family.

Info from https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/pine-marten.html
They kill by biting into the neck, just behind the head at the top of the spine, and their bite is so strong that they will usually decapitate the bird completely.

So if you find chickens whose heads have been parted from their body, it's highly likely you've been subject to a pine marten (or other group member) attack.

 

[Tormund]

We live on the Gulf coast so Martins aren't really an issue here. We have a long-tailed Weasel but there isn't any signs of weasels in the area.

Sorry you lost your Punky Rooster

You did a lot to keep predators out. But obvious the 6’ high fence is not high enough for some nasty predators. I don’t know about racoons, because we don’t have them where I live, but I do know foxes and some other predators can climb over it.
If you want to make your hole property more safe, probably the easiest to do is add shock wire.


Mice can go through 1” hwc. And for minks, weasels and martens can pass very small openings too.
If you lived in Europe I would have thought the predator was one of the mustelids family.

Info from https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/pine-marten.html
They kill by biting into the neck, just behind the head at the top of the spine, and their bite is so strong that they will usually decapitate the bird completely.

So if you find chickens whose heads have been parted from their body, it's highly likely you've been subject to a pine marten (or other group member) attack.

 

[McChooky]

Yeah, We are thinking we may have to do this for a few weeks. Especially since we are going to be down a rooster while the injured one recovers. Unfortunately, the run is too small for the flock so we only keep them in the run during very bad weather.

Locking your chickens up for several weeks forces it to move on. Predators return to places they've successfully killed before so changing the time the door opens is important.When night predators are still hungry they'll hunt after daylight.I never let mine out early

 

[McChooky]

The back yard in a 3/4 acre 6 ft hurricane fence enclosure. from the base of the hurricane fence to a foot underground is a wall made of concrete blocks where the fence isn't up against the house. There is a 10x10x8 coop with a 10x16 fully enclosed run with the bottom foot to a foot underground being 1/2-inch metal cloth. and the rest made out of 1 inch metal cloth.

The run gives them 13 SQ ft each plus they have the 100 SQ ft coop

 

[Project Blue]

We have had 4 chickens attacked in the last 6 weeks and 2 killed. Our hens are kept in a coop at night and let out once the sun comes up. Something is going after hens early in the morning between sunup and 7:30 AM. The 2 hens that were killed had their heads removed and the innards were eaten out through the neck area and the gizzard heart liver and lungs are gone but the meat was largely left intact. From what I can tell of the location of the feathers the hen was attacked in the coop and got away there are 2 other spots in the ward where large groups of feathers on the ground before the final place where it was killed. The feathers there have blood on them which is lacking in the other places which is what makes me think it was killed there.

Our rooster tried intervening and for his trouble lost a big tuff of feathers at the base of his left wing and has 2 puncture marks above in in from the lower edge of the wing. He got some licks in it seems, one of his spurs and his beak have fresh blood on them. We cleaned him up and put some betadine on the puncture wounds are going to keep him inside until he gets his strength back. Our roosters are both extremely protective over the flock when it comes to anyone but me and my mom who also takes care of them.

As far as predators in the area We have Hawks (breeding pair of adult red-tailed Hawks and 3 juvenile hawks), owls Foxes, Racoons, Possums, Coyotes, and Cats. Coyotes and Fox would be incapable of getting through the fence and the after-sunrise attacks rules out possums. I'm thinking cat or racoon because whatever it is, is going into the coop after the chickens are let out in the morning. We dealt with cat attacks in the past which ended when our dog and rooster ganged up and killed a cat and mauled another one. Anyone have any experience with something like this?

I noticed you live in the South. If you are near water I'd guess mink. Raccoons in my experience are extremely messy and tend to leave foot prints when they climb up on things loose seedy poops. I can always tell when raccoons are about, there will be prints on water tanks and they make a mess eating. Often there is more than one. Minks are systematic eaters. Starting with the head then neck and just a little of the torso where the neck connects. Read about animal rights protestors releasing minks from a big mink farm. All the surrounding farms very shortly had headless chickens all over the place. I had coopers hawks nest in one tree and few trees over a barred owl nesting and didn't loose a single chicken to them. Not that owls and hawks don't eat chickens at times but I think the preferred prey would be smaller since most predators don't want to risk injury themselves. Minks are not common away from water, but they are a nightmare predator. They can climb trees, dive 15 feet in water and are small enough to get through holes in a coop that would easily stop a raccoon or opossum.

 

[triciayoung]

I'm going with a mink or weasel as well

 

[Tormund]

Ok after relocating a game camera we seem to have caught the culprit. A new cat had been spotted in the area that no one knew who it belonged too. A cat was seen checking out the coop and run for a few days. None of the neighbors could identify the cat. After letting the chickens start roaming again and leaving our dog out with them in the mornings. There was a ruckus. Same cat was chasing a hen and the dog caught, and rag dolled the cat. Cat had to be put down (dogs teeth opened a serious hole in its abdomen and we think it back was broken). Called animal control showed them the cat the camera video and injured hen who thankfully was just missing feathers off the back of her neck. Animal control made a report took the carcass and gave us a case number just in case we are able to ever identify who the cat belonged too.

 

[tigger19687]

I hate it when people think it is ok to let their cat roam around.
Glad you figured it out !
Hope that doggy got a steak that day !

 

[Tormund]

I hate it when people think it is ok to let their cat roam around.
Glad you figured it out !
Hope that doggy got a steak that day !

He is spoiled like you wouldn't believe and a great protector of the goats and chickens even plays with the chickens sometimes (a weird version of tag where they will take turns chasing each other around). It's his 3rd cat he's killed along with 2 racoons and a handful of possums. It was surprising to us at first because when animals aren't in the back yard he's extremely tolerant and friendly with just about everything but he turns into a furry meat missile the second anything gets in the back yard.