What is killing my birds?

[natasha_lynn_23]

My guess would be a weasel. You could also put up a trail camera...you will be amazed at what might show up on the camera.

We just put one up last and it didn’t catch anything, so whatever it is came from the other direction.

 

[natasha_lynn_23]

I still say it looks awefully small for 12 birds.

I agree with Sam, and my guess is the prefab coop is made with particle board and veneer which would be easy to chew through.

Best thing to do quickly is just get rolls of 1/2 hardware cloth and cover the whole pen top to bottom, then around the permiter.

Now if you really wanted to upgrade you could use the pen structure itself to panel over and make a larger stronger secure coop with plywood and/or steel.

To clarify, the 12 chickens and 9 ducks were all free ranging prior to the attack, and only the chickens would go in at night. Thank
You for the advice, I appreciate it!!

 

[natasha_lynn_23]

Update, we found the area the predator is getting in! Unfortunately not before another attack. My poor full grown pekin was missing and I looked around and found a couple pieces of meat and feather. The predator is eating the bones as well or something. The area it got in is a 3-4 inch gap between the bars and roof. We found blood on the coop wall so it’s something that can get 6 ft high and take body with it maybe? And squeeze into a small space. What gets me is that all the bodies were gone except the 2 after the initial attack that were inside the coop. We covered the gap and moved the remaining ducks into a different structure for now.

 

[natasha_lynn_23]

Rats can and do kill chickens, and anywhere a rat can go so can any member of the weasel family.

If that photo is the type of setup you have it really isn't up to keeping much of anything away from your birds.

The wood in those pre-fab coops tends to be pretty flimsy or inadequately fastened. Raccoons are freakisly strong and can pretty easily pry thin doors or panels open, especially if there's more than one.

If that's what your run is like a variety of preadators can pretty easily grab a bird through the wire and kill it: hawks, raccoons, foxes. It wouldn't take much for anything to be able to dig under that type of run either.

Your killer could be virtually anything smaller than an adult coyote, and your flock may have fallen victim to multiple predators.

I'm not sure from OP how your ducks managed to survive, but they're probably next on the menu.

When or if you re-stock your flock, invest in one or more trail cameras so you can see what's actually around your property and either make your steup more secure or build something better from scratch.

You shoudln't have any gaps to the outside bigger than 1/2", and the run needs digging prevention either in the form of buried hardware cloth as shown above, or by resting the run on 12 or 14" concrete "pavers". If you can get your fingertips inside a door and pry it even 1" open it isn't rigid enough to keep preadators out.

Look at the threads on coop and run ideas to find a solution that works for you and fits your budget.

Thank you, I appreciate the advice and will definitely do some more research and predator proofing if I decide to restock. Unfortunately one of the ducks was victim next. I have another coop identical to the first with ducks next to it so I will proof in the mean time.

 

[lagrange chicks]

I believe you are dealing with a racoon.

 

[natasha_lynn_23]

I believe you are dealing with a racoon.

Confirmed, we caught him on our camera.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I had trouble with a weasel this fall- and had not before in 30 years. large spring type rat trap works well. After the weasel wiped out all my chickens, I put a bunch of traps inside the coop by the pop doors. He sprung quite a few before finally getting nailed, I used chicken meat as bait.

 

[lagrange chicks]

I had trouble with a weasel this fall- and had not before in 30 years. large spring type rat trap works well. After the weasel wiped out all my chickens, I put a bunch of traps inside the coop by the pop doors. He sprung quite a few before finally getting nailed, I used chicken meat as bait.

I had 2 weasels playing next to the chicken coop and run the summer of 23, my chickens at the time were around 12 weeks old. I freaked out, I set traps and loaded a shotgun that was kept ready. I never seen them again but keep a set weasel box (trap) just in case.

 

[natasha_lynn_23]

What in the world is this? Looks like we have more than one predator…

 

[lagrange chicks]

Hard to tell, climbs like a racoon though.