# Another case of chicken predators



## mesa123 (Jan 15, 2009)

My *twelve* buckeye chicks were killed last night. They were about nine weeks old. This happened two nights after two of my adult birds were killed in the same manner. 

Birds were killed and left in their enclosure. Heads, necks, feet intact. The backs/butts and insides were eaten. A lot of feathers strewn about with the older birds, not so much with the younger ones. Very gruesome. 

After the adult birds were taken, we shored up the chicks enclosure. Horse stall, wooden sides with metal bars, chicken wire attached to all sides and ceilings. Nothing has been broken into, no holes in the wire, no gaps in the walls. No way for anything to dig underneath, its concrete. The sliding door is tough for a human to move because we have cinder-blocks keeping it snug, I don't think an animal could budge it. I'm completely stumped. 

The only predators I've actually seen in the past are raccoons and coyotes. Neither of them seem to be likely culprits given the manner in which they were killed. My cats were all inside when this happened. I've read some articles on this issue, but haven't been able to make an ID. Any other ideas?


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## Judy in IN (Nov 28, 2003)

Classic Opossum. They will eat the guts out and leave most of the bird right there on the ground. Or, possibly a raccoon. But my money's on the opossum.

Oh, and get rid of the *&^(%$#@) chicken wire and use welded wire. Chicken wire only keeps chickens in/out.


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## mesa123 (Jan 15, 2009)

Thanks for the idea.

And again, nothing got through the chicken wire. Unless they fixed it back when they were finished.


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

What size is the chicken wire?


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## pamda (Oct 14, 2004)

I caught a racoon doing exactly that. 24 full grown cornish cross dead, ripped partly eaten. Nasty mess. And due to go to the processor the next day


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## mesa123 (Jan 15, 2009)

It's the one-inch hexagonal wire/netting. It is woven through the metal bars on the top section of the stalls and stapled very securely all along the ceiling in a double layer. Nothing was out-of-place. No wire pulled back or broken or anything.

If you ignore the cat, you can just barely see one of stalls (this is not the chicken stall) and the bars in the top right section of this picture. The wire is woven through those bars, the walls are solid wood.










And I read that opossums and raccoons eat the heads/crops. Whatever got these ate the back end.


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## CarolT (Mar 12, 2009)

Never seen a possum leave a head alone. Ditto get rid of chicken wire. 

I vote weasel. Rare to see them, but here's a link on id'ing predators and their mo

Poultry Predator Identification

ETA, like rodents, weasels fit places you would never believe. They can easily go through 1" openings


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## Cliff (Jun 30, 2007)

There's got to be a place they're getting through that you just haven't found yet... all a possum needs is about a tennis ball sized opening and they are excellent climbers.

Possum will eat the guts btw.


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## mesa123 (Jan 15, 2009)

Hmmm...I'll do a closer inspection tonight. I was stepping around chicken carcasses this morning, which is a little distracting. But after we lost those two adult birds, I totally locked down those chicks. It's very frustrating to say the least. 

I don't know if it makes a difference, but after talking to people in the neighborhood who have housed chickens successfully for years and years, two have trapped skunks, one lady spotted a raccoon and two others claimed weasels. Strange coincidence that all these old-timers are suddenly losing entire flocks. I've personally used this system for seven years and never lost a bird to anything other than a coyote when the chickens were out on pasture. We must have all gotten complacent or maybe there has been a huge influx of new predators in our area. Either way, I'm done with chickens for now. 

Thanks!


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Gosh, I'm sorry.


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## Oma2three (May 5, 2012)

So sorry about your chickens.Hope you can find out what killed them.but since you don't have any left the critter probably won't be back.


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## hugh (Apr 22, 2009)

Inject a couple of the dead bodies with antifreeze.


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## Judy in IN (Nov 28, 2003)

I know, it's disheartening when the predators clean you out. Take time out to heal.


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## PD-Riverman (May 24, 2007)

Are there any holes where your rafters sit on your top plate? My cousin lost alot of his chickens because of that 3" gap between the rafters and top plate. It was a bobcat. Good Luck!


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