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.