chicken predator ID

[Scott G]

Andy, on a serious note, borrow a game camera from someone and set it up on the perimeter where the chickens won’t be setting the motion detector off constantly. From what you described, I still think a weasel is likely – although I really don’t have experience with mink as they do not exist out here. A coon more than likely would have tipped the trap over. Coons, at least our Rocky Mountain variety, have finesse but not that much. I use to be a pretty serious trapper when I was a kid and caught several weasels (ermine), when sign was present, with traps baited with a chunk of muskrat or beaver meat.

[near horse]

@Countymouse 31059 wrote:

More clues. I set a couple live traps baited with chicken livers. One near the place I found the chicken and one near the coop. In only a couple hours after dark, the livers were gone from the trap close to where I found the dead chicken. No animal in the trap though. The animal dug underneath the live trap and reached up from underneath to pull the liver out from though the floor of the trap. I can’t think of many animals with the smarts, dexterity, and size to do this. I think it has to be a raccoon. Thing is it’s not news to me that there are raccoons around here. If I catch one, who’s knows if it was the “perp”…

What type of live trap did you have? Like a Hav-a-Hart.. Since we don’t know what were dealing with size wise, the trap might not catch the culprit. Example – those traps big enough for a raccoon could allow a weasel/mink to get in and out w/o trouble or a small trap could allow a raccoon/skunk to reach in and grab the bait ……

I like the game camera idea from Scott.

[Andy Carson]

I actually set two havahart traps of different sizes, both baited with chicken livers. I put the smaller (7x7x24 inches, recommended for “squirrels, rabbits, skunks and mink”) of the two traps I set up next to the coop, but the liver in it was untouched. My logic was that smaller animals were more likely to be closer to the coop, even though I close it up tight religiously every night. The other larger trap (10x12x32 inches, recommended for “raccoons, cats, groundhogs, and opossums) I set up close to the area of the dead chicken, in a bit of cover where I could image a predator watching teh open area. The trap did seem flimsy for a bigger animal (as Scott points out) so I put a cinder block on top of the trap. Within a couple hours of nightfall, the liver was gone from the trap, with a hole dug underneath the rear of the trap. The hole was maybe 4-5 inches wide on the edge tapering to about 2 inches beneath the spot when the liver was placed, with a uniform 2-3 inch depth. The ground there was frozen on the surface and embedded with several 2-3 inch rocks that might have impeded a small animal. The dirt and rocks that were dug were “sprayed” out a foot or two behind the digging animal in a triangular pattern like a dog would do. The trap was shifted a bit, but no more than a few inches (probably b/c of the cinder block on top of it). I rebaited the trap and put cinder blocks on the sides on the trap to block future digging attempts. With this modification, the animal lost interest and left the liver there all night. Perhaps I have a fox and the trap is too small. Hard to determine from the tracks because I have two small dogs that would leave tracks similar in size to a fox. My first thought was that the hole was big enough for a small hand to reach in, which made me think raccoon. On second thought, a foxes head would probably fit in the hole and licking nipping and pulling would likely let the liver fall through the holes in the trap. Jeesh, are there any predators we haven’t discussed yet???

[Andy Carson]

The traps have been empty the last couple nights and the bait uneaten. Last night, I baited the biggest trap with a chicken liver, an egg, and a sardine. Still nothing ate it. Making me feel a little better about my potential predator… I also tried a bigger trap, on the chance that it is a fox. Still no interest… I haven’t lost an chickens either, though, so shouldn’t complain…

[Anonymous]

I just have to jump in on this discussion. From your description of the kill I’m guessing a hawk. An owl very rarely kills in the daylight. All the losses I’ve had to owls, only the head and neck were eaten. Nothing else. I doubt that you will ever catch a fox in a live trap unless it is a young pup. They are to smart. Although a fox could have very well dug under your trap for the bait. Coon are easy to catch in a live trap. Weasels will bite chickens in the back of the head and drink the blood. You have to look close to even see the bite marks. A weasel will wipe you out. They kill just for the enjoyment.

Dave

[Baystatetom]

One of the beagle clubs I manage timber for is always blaming owls for killing their snowshoe hares. They often find them missing their heads and otherwise untouched. A wildlife biologist told me he could never figure out how it is that, that became known as a owl trait. How would a bird like a owl or hawk with a toothless beak chew up a skull? This biologist says that is most definitely a weasel of some sort, mink, long tailed weasel, or fisher in the case of the hare. Can’t say I really know myself but I do think this biologist is pretty darn good at what he does and I would have to think he knows what he is talking about.
~Tom

[Andy Carson]

At this point, I think this is a mystery that I am not likely to solve. The lack of a repeat attack, coupled with the lack of my ability to catch anything (well, anything but a barn cat) in live traps for about a week now is a good sign in my mind. Perhaps my initial loss represents a visit from a very wide ranging predator. Maybe a migrating bird, or a mink on the outskirts of it’s range. It might be possible that the digging I saw when I first placed the trap was my dog digging under the trap. He not have reached his muzzle underneath the trap, but the hole underneath could have allowed the liver to fall out the bottom of the trap, and he could have pushed the trap (and cinder block) over a few inches to reach the liver that dropped through. As I twrite this, perhaps this is the most likely explanation. It is hard to imagine that a wild animal big enough to shift a cinder block could have messed around with the trap long enough to get the bait out without getting caught without leaving a track… If it was my dog digging, than I have had no interest in my live traps (other than cats) baited with either chicken livers, whole eggs, cracked eggs, or sardines. I certainly haven’t seen anything tracks that couldn’t be explained by my own dogs and cats. I think I’ll leave my traps up, but otherwise I think I’m coming down off of “high alert.”

[Anonymous]

Tom
I’m no biologist but my eye sight is 20/20. I don’t know about hares and rabbits but I can assure you if the head and neck are the only thing missing on a chicken you have an owl problem. For a few years my barn didn’t have any doors on it. The hole was sixteen ft. wide and made a great entry way for flying predators. My free range chickens roosted where ever they wanted to. On three different occasions I have had owl visitors. Many mornings they were still in the barn when I went out to do chores. They would be out the back door before you could blink. They would get one chicken every night until the problem was eliminated. You are now probably thinking that I interrupted his meal but whether it was in the barn in the morning or not every chicken was missing the head and neck only. Nothing else.

[Carl Russell]

One of the difficulties with this situation. that we have been joking about since the beginning, is that we all have a virtual reality that we are experiencing here. We all have personal experiences with this sort of thing, and being completely disconnected from the actual event, we have nothing but our own perspective to bring to it. Details of each perspective are valid, yet out of context at the same time.

Admittedly I have no idea what killed this bird.

I do know however that owls tend to be much more interested in eating small rodents, something they can swallow whole, and that is the main reason they are found in barns. This is not to say they wouldn’t take a chicken, but I have a barn that I use that supports owls AND a large population of pigeons.

Andy, I will just throw out one more bit of insight about minks. If they are stealing eggs, while they may give passing interest to livers, the extra work to get them out of a cage may not be warranted, as they know they can get an easy egg meal. They also are not likely to use travel corridors that you would normally think of. They LOVE to travel in tunnels, or under foundations. If there is a hole, they almost cannot resist going through it. As important as it is to use a non-kill trap to protect domestic animals, placing a Body Trap like a Connabear 110 inside an entryway to such a tunnel may be more fruitful. You may have to look closely, and you may not want to believe that they can actually fit through the hole you find, but if there is anyway they can get close to the coop without going out into the open, I would experiment.

Carl

[Andy Carson]

i value everyone’s opinion about this and I truly have no idea what killed my chicken either. I have another 50, though, so unless it was the start of a pattern, I can absorb the loss. I suppose I brought the topic up because with the clues I had, I wasn’t sure what killed the bird. After some discussion, and some tests and observation on my part, it still sounds like a mystery. I am not disappointed, however, because having to re think and reexamine my chicken security cannot possibly be a waste of time. Also, whether this thing was a weasel or mink or not, making myself feel confident that the coop is secure against such small and strong predators almost certainly secures it against a host of others. I have actually been thinking or some sort of integrated trap that could be fit into chicken doors so as to trap weasels, mink, rats etc that would be more likely to go under a board along a threshold, rather than jump over (as a chicken would). I’ll share some photos if i get around to it. It seems like a worthwhile invention.

[PhilG]

This is what i found this after noon about 4:45, i was working neer by all day and did’nt notice the rucas, it was hot(48) and muddy not a print around, no paw prints, tallon prints, nothing, three more birds are missing with no sign at all, no trace of a fetherry struggle or blood, just gone, her name was Butter, she was my favorite of the 15, 🙁
just thought I would add in some more evidence, i guess my vote would be bald eagles (seen them around a lot ) or hawks. I have been seeing some huge Crows around, in flocks, Could they have done this? or be able to carry the others away?
Phil

[Andy Carson]

Sorry about your hens, Phil. Did you lose them all at the same time? Your chicken carcass looks alot like mine did, but I only lost one chicken. We have had a few days of snow here which gives me a great opportunity to check for tracks. Nothing but dogs and cats though. I think it was a good idea to set a trap, although I personally didn’t catch anything but cats. By the way, you’re telling us that it’s January and there’s no snow and it’s almost 50 degrees in Colorado? I guess I always think of mountains and skiing and forget it’s almost New Mexico.

[PhilG]

Andy,
Just lost two, found the others hiding out in the pig shed this morning, ya, it’s freaky hot, i have been working out side all week in shirt sleeves and jeans, i guess predicting the weather anymore is a thing of the past, the ski resorts are having a hard time.

[Andy Carson]

Was the other chicken killed in the same way, or did you find the body? Do you have a dog that guards the chickens? I am sure it’s made a big difference for me. Searching in the fresh snow for predator tracks taught me how comprehesively a dog who interested in patroling can scan a place. I think every square yard gets sniffed once a day, and perimeters get checked several times.

[Andy Carson]

I recently lost 5 young buckeye/leghorn cross pullets. I didn’t really notice at first because I didn’t keep as good of track of these pullets as they got in the habit of roosting in the run-in and tree branches rather than in the coop with the other hens. This cross makes wild things… As a result, they were not locked up at night like the rest. The pullets were taken at night on different nights. There were no fight scenes in thier normal roosting places (no blood, feathers, or carcasses). Yesterday, I heard a sound like a frightened lost puppy and went to go find it. It was coming from a thicky wooded fencerow. I didn’t find the puppy or a foxden (the sounds went away when I got close), but I did find the remains of my lost pullets. They clearly didn’t wonder off, but were taken back into the woods (maybe 100-200 yards) and eaten. The entire carcass was consumed (including bones and entrials), with nothing left but feathers. The feathers were scattered randomly in small piles. This was not a surgical job. There is no water in the area where they were eaten. There is a pond on my property, but it is in an area patrolled by my dog so raccoons would very likley not want to hang out there. This sounds like a fox to me and the sounds I was hearing make me think there is a den somewhere close by. I looked for one, but will probably look more. Crappy thing about it is I just put up an electric fence around the whole place. My dog used to patrol the fencerow where those pullets were eaten, but now he can’t get there. In intending to fence out potential predators, I may have inadvertently given them a safe base closer than it could have been otherwise…

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