Hey all,
So my neighbor has been losing chickens. The last few during the day. She discovered the last one in the middle of the run with a "3x3" hole in her chest" but not taken and not eaten.
Any ideas?
Sounds like weasel of some sort sucking the blood out and leaving the carcass.
They do that?! They don't eat the chicken at all?! They suck the blood out like a tiny chupacabra?!
No, they can't, it's total bs.
https://academic.oup.com/book/6132/chapter-abstract/149683296?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Once its prey is dead, a weasel may lick any blood coming from the prey's mouth or wounds before starting to eat, but there is no truth in the old belief that weasels suck the blood of their prey. Weasels do not—in fact, physically cannot—suck blood.
That's a relief. I had never heard that before.
Yup
Jfc no. They are impressive little mammals, but they aren't the freaking chupacabra. Weasels aren't physically capable of sucking blood.
https://academic.oup.com/book/6132/chapter-abstract/149683296?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Skunks do this in my area im sure other predators do as well and sometimes just take the head
Opossum
That's a bird of prey. Hawk or owl, or both probably. They now know where the easy food if. They tear open the breast, eat the heart and lungs, don't waste too much time on the meats and they can't fly with a full sized bird. Middle of the run with a hole in the breast is 100% certainty it's a bird of prey.
This is not a mammal. This isn't what skunks or raccoons do. They'll tunnel in through the butt, or rip the heads off, chew feet off. They don't go in through the chest. And were it a mammal, it would be a massacre. Mammals either go crazy and kill as much as they can, or they bring friends and kill as much as they can. Very seldom is one bird taken unless the predator is interrupted. They'll also try and drag the corpse back to their den, so you'll find carcasses with a leg pulled violently through a small hole in the fence and all the flesh stripped off.
The run needs either netting or flashy metallic tape strung up over the whole run. This will continue until the whole flock is wiped out now that predators know where the birds are.
I’d guess a hawk if it’s happening during the day, and if hawks can get into the run. Most full-grown standard-sized chickens are too heavy for most hawks to fly away with.
Having witnessed how hawks eat chickens, they definitely go straight into the body by creating a hole. They want to get at the good stuff, like organs and meat after plucking feathers from the spot. But then again, some other animals do that too. But OP hasn't given more information, like is the run kept open so the chickens free range?
I know OP said the last few happened during the day, but we could also be dealing with two different predators if this time span is over a year and the carcasses are discovered differently.
Prolly not a hawk. The “last few” during the day which means some are taken at night. Also the frequency and injury spoken of dont match up w a hawk necessarily.
That’s a good point, I hadn’t read that as some were being killed at night, before.
It could be more than one kind of predator though, too.
No doubt, great point!
I'd guess a weasel since it is also happening during the day and most of the other potential culprits are nocturnal. Is she leaving them locked in the run during the day and night? If so she needs to find the point(s) of access and cover them with hardware cloth. A weasel can get through small spaces, including standard chicken wire. Skunks can get through remarkably small holes too.
She needs to reinforce her fencing. Add a layer of four-foot wide, 1/2 inch mesh hardware cloth all around the whole run, and bury the bottom several inches into the ground. She can roof the run with chicken wire wired to the sides. Plug every space with patches of hardware cloth. Good luck.