what could it be?

[ThreeBoysChicks]

Feel your pain. I lost three ducks and a chicken two weeks ago. And one of those ducks was on a nest. All of her eggs were taken also.

I am pretty sure mine was a big fox that was able to get over the fence but not back over with his kill because they were dead and at the fence but not gone. My neighbor shot a big fox this past weekend, so I am hoping that was our killer. But you are never sure. I hate that feeling.

 

[manybirds]

thanks everybody. i'm almost %100 positive it wasn't a dog. our two don't go after the birds (in fact here terrified to death of them the birds attack them) and we only have 2 neighbors withing a few miles of us and both there dogs are used to our animals. i'm pretty sure it wasn't a skunk, no smell, very bold didn't eat anything. i'm really leaning toward mink or weasel now. the runner was penned up found (still warm) in its pen, and the muscovy was found right between the barn and the dog kennel in a little space (about a foot wide a food high). with its body about a foot away from the head.
i know the fealing of not knowing, we had some penned canada geese and forgot to put them in the hut for the night (these where some very expensive geese, why is it always the useful or quality or expensive ones to go first ?) and i came out in the morning to my poor baby with its head and neck completely gone. whatever it was had tried to drag it through the wire and failed so it just took the head and left the rest. at that time the pen was closer to the field (our property is completely sourounded by a overgrown DNR field which is lined with woods, which has a big river in it we get ALL kinds of predators.) and whatever it was was big and strong enough to get in the pen and take an almost full grown canada goose down so we think it could have been a ratcoon or fisher never where sure though

 

[Cricket]

I'd agree on the mink. 8 years ago, a mink crawled up through the eaves on my chicken house. I went out at 7 a.m. to do chores and then back at 10 or so to let them outside, as it had warmed up enough. They were all dead except the rooster and the mink had his teeth around his neck. It was a bloodbath--all over the mink, feathers a foot deep, dead chickens with, for some reason, their feet up in the air. I slammed the door and my husband went up with the shotgun and got the mink. I had one egg in there from that morning (my favorite Orp x with Auracana), hatched it in the incubator and I still have that hen (Peach, a sweetheart!). It wasn't economical, but made me feel like I won a little battle anyway.

So sorry--it is so upsetting and leaves you feeling like you didn't do your job.

 

[elevan]

The reason I brought up the skunk smell isn't because I suspected a skunk...it's because I suspect mink. Minks and skunks are related and often when a mink is in the area you smell a faint smell of "skunk" on the night air....not the heavy odor of skunk but a light skunky smell (if that makes sense).

 

[Cricket]

Perfect sense! A mink smells like a skunk if skunks smelled good.

 

[DonnaBelle]

Whaaaaaat???

Well, here in Oklahoma we have everything but mink.

We do have our share of skunks though.

Anyone remember that song: "dead skunk in the middle of the road>"


DonnaBelle

 

[manybirds]

no i havn't smelled anything but i'll keep sniffing , no more deaths lately, either its full for a little while of one of the dogs or cats got it. lets hope the latter! and no i do not believe i've heard the dead skunk song

 

[Hillsvale]

we had the exact same issue a while back... it was a fox (red), we got a trapper in!

 

[elevan]

We lost almost our entire flock over a year ago to a known mink. Several of our neighbors experienced significant losses or whole flock loss to this same mink. We all smelled that faint skunky smell on the night air. Then the last neighbor to experience flock loss set a snap trap (kind of like bear trap) and was left with the mink's leg. I hope he died of blood loss...mean to say but between myself and neighbors we lost over 150 chickens in just a few days.

 

[Mamaboid]

Minks Weasels and Fishers are all really hard on chickens and hard to catch. Sneaky little buggers.