15 dead chickens, what is the culprit?

I did an article several years ago about a similar situation involving a pheasant breeding farm, except the critter was killing anywhere from 30-50 birds per night. A regular carnage. You need to take several of the birds and skin them out to see how wide the teeth are spaced apart. Check the perimeter of how they are enclosed and see if you can find a route in and out, and how big it is. Eliminate the predator's opportunity is the first step.

In my instance, it was a female badger training her litter of young'uns at the salad bar. Took me one night to catch her, and three more days to neutralize her brood. And yes, a mink will do the same thing.
 
I would think that it was a MINK---I've seen them kill 23 ducks and chicken in one night in a barn---they kill for fun and can be a nastly little sucker! are there any holes into the shed?
 
I would have to say COON. Now if Weasle UT was the culprit, he would likely have ben found hanging from top wire of the fence. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I picked up a live trap today and baited it with sardines in oil; I cant use leg hold traps because of mom's pet barn cat. Hopefully in the next few days I'll have my answer.

I dont think it was a dog becuse the gate in the fence around the chicken coop was closed and locked and there were no holes dug under the fence. It was the small door into the chicken coop for the chicks to go through that was left open. The chicken fence is nearly 6 feet tall so I am pretty confident something had to climb one of the fence posts to get in.

Thanks for all the input, I'll let you know if we get an answer.
 
The night that it happened she didnt get the chicked door (8"x8") closed and that is how the varmint got in.




The culprit didn't go over the fence, under the fence or through the fence. It went in an open gate, Crime of Opportunity


EDIT;I just got fired from CSI Chicken coop. Sorry Small block. I was under the impression it came in through the gate
 
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17 Shooter,

The chicken coop is inside of the chicken fence, much like a dog house is inside ones back yard. In order for the critter to get through the 8x8 door it first had to get by the chicken wire. Because all the gates (2) through the chicken wire were closed and no holes were dug under the wire the little chicken killer had to first climb a fence pole to get inside the chicken wire to gainn access to the chicken door.
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif Yeah I go that finally. Did you get the list of possibile varmints in the web site I posted
 
All those who said mink are probably correct. Mink will kill for the hell of it. They can go through chicken wire as slick as a button, almost like they are greased. I've trapped them where they came through a knothole in a board wall! It may return nightly or during it's routine run of about two weeks apart.

Coons will take one a night until caught. Same with a possum.At least that has been my experiences with these animals and chickens over a lot of years.

The rare weasel will go nuts, killing everything in the coop. That darned thing was running the walls like it was the Indy 500 grabbing birds as it went with us in there as well.Of the 35 birds it killed it got three while we were trying to kill it!Jimmie
 
How tall is the fence? I think you are underestimating the the jumping ability of domestic dogs. I cant keep my German Shorthair in my yard. She bounds my 6 foot privacy fence like a walk in the park. and you said one chicken was eaten right? one good sized chicken is about all a domestic dog could eat, but it might be up for some chase and kill after a good meal! dont have any idea about minks or weasels, we dont have them here in tx.
 
I wouldnt think it would be a weasle or a mink either. They usually wont tear chickens apart and feed on them, they usually just cut the throat and eat the blood. Sounds to me like possibly one of two different culprits. Either a possum, or a racoon. I have dealt with both of these animals killing my chickens, and they both do the same thing, they come in and kill 5 or 6 chickens at a time and only feed on one of the chickens. I have found if you leave the dead chickens in the coupe and stake it out at night they often will come back for the other chickens.
 
I got it, I got it.


Same thing happend to my friends grandmother. She had 24 chickens in her coop. One day she went out and they were all dead. They thought it was disease or somthing and called the DNR to see what to do. They came out and counted 23 in the coop and found pieces & parts of #24 outside. They brought several back for testing.
Now the answer that they told them may not be correct but they said they have seen this before.
A fox got in and killed one. The rest died of heart attacks during all the chaos.

I did call in a fox two days later.
I did witness all the dead chickens and I did not see any sign of damage to any.

Whatever the critter is it would probably come to a call.
Good hunting.
 
"A fox got in and killed one. The rest died of heart attacks during all the chaos."

Is this for real? Maybe they need to start giving their chickens a baby aspirin every day to keep their risk down.
 
The last time I saw that many dead chickens at one time was when I stepped out the door one morning and found them scattered all over the back lawn where my two airedales had brought them after catching them all.
Seeing those two pups laying there with big ****eating grins on their faces just had to make me laugh.

After all, that's what they do.
Besides, I had told my wife over and over that I really didn't want those birds /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
I'm assuming no tracks were found. If so, that would help. I have heard of chickens dying of frieght, too. That would open the door to other culprits other than dogs, such as a coon, fox, weasel etc. It's more believable that these wild carnivores would only go after one, anyway. I can't imagine a tiny weasel, or a racoon running down that many chickens. That would expend too much energy.
 
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