What is getting my chickens? How can I get them! A mystery...

[Jane308]

Here's the set up... A rabbit hutch inside a 6 ft. fenced area.

3 chicks were inside the hutch last night. They are beheaded and ate this morning. With parts on the inside of the cage and parts under the hutch...

The bedding box opens from the peak on the back, so a coon could not have opened the top sitting on it.

How can I trap wessel? Inside the cage? Inside the hutch? What for bait? Was it even a wessel?



Other side view, both doors locked. One clipped in the center. The other on one side, I can't open it even 1 inch.


This is the bedding box, the hinges are at the peak.


Any help would be appreciated...

[Justin10mm]

Try a large rat trap in the cage.

[dakota954]

i had a problem with my chickens. turned out to be a rabid coon that went into the coop and snapped their necks. dont underestimate their power, if they want in, theyre getting in! my dad saw one rip the top of a garbage can off that he crimped the lid down on and he could barely get it off, they got it off with ease. most likely it was a rat or a weasel or a coon. if theres a space big enough for it to stick its arm through, itll get whatever it wants, they have a very long reach. i would set up a trail camera if you have one, put it facing the cage with some chicken or lunch meat tied to a string on the side of the cage. that may satisfy whatevers getting in and spare your chickens. to get it, id do what justin said and set a rat trap but put it under the cage and bait it with chicken and some feathers. drill a hole through the bottom of the trap and wire it off to something un movable. that should catch whatever is getting in. if that doesnt work, use a cage trap and then you can do whatever you want with your varmint

[RB1235]

Years ago I had a weasel do the same thing. I got him with a cage trap and a chick as bait. The chick was live. I built a cage to go on the cage trap. I just put the trap next to the brooder and moved the light over for the one in the trap and gave food and water. Looks like 1/4" hardware cloth would do you some good. Will save a lot of headaches in the future. Looks like that shelf material may be big enough for a coon or possum to put his hand through. I have had coons herd the chicks over to a waiting hand to snatch them up.

[Jane308]

We put foot holds, and live traps, and deer camera. Caught a coon on the camera and not in the traps.

[Buckskin]

Weasel for sure... Make a simple little weasel box.  This gives an example, but any box will do.  I would figure some way to use live bait to make it as attractive as your pen...  Probably get him the night you set it..., but keep it set for a few nights.

http://www.trapperman.com/trapperman/The_Weasel_Box_Set.html

[hunt-m-up]

I was going to say mink or weasel until you got the coon on camera. Any other domestic animals/dogs or cats outside the fence? If not I was going to suggest a 220 conibear in a cubby baited with chicken parts. Try throwing a tarp or dark cover over the live trap, may fool this trap-wise coon.

[Jane308]

Got one last night, had some technical problems with lighting, etc... They came within 10 feet of me to sniff a chicken that stayed out. Found out where they are going in and out at... tonight they will have a hurtin' on them. Ron and i are going Code Coon. They are wise to the traps now so we have to try something else. Gonna try the sweets mixture, and pop 'em...

Thanks for the advice everyone, used quite a few already.

[Ron 1]

got 2 more last nite    shot 1 with a winchester pellet gun in the shed at close range less than 1 ft and the other with a  10/22 ruger gave him 4 shots. i drilled the hollow points and xed them just for good measure.
none of the 22 shots came out.
                                                  rw

[jlwilliams]

  I have limited luck trapping racoons.  They get trap wise pretty quickly.  Maybe get one, but then the rest know better.  My best racoon medicine has always been lead.  Just have to be willing to lose some sleep since they come out after I like to have turned in.

  I'm hoping the best for you and waiting for the updates.

[Buckskin]

How the heck did those coon get into your cage??  Easy for a wessil, but I don't see how a coon could, unless I missed an opening.  Eating heads off is a classic sign of wessil....

[Ron 1]

Jane: With the hutch, I told everyone it had to be a wessel. Brother-in-law came over and said that if a coon could get his nose into something, it can get in. It would of had to hang off the side, open the lid and swing over... i'm still not ruling out wessel, but there has been a live chicken in it for 2 days and we've shot 3 (coons) so far, 1 in front of the cage, and 2 in the shed, those have been getting the cat food and knocking stuff over.

We sit another night, tonight and enjoy our romantic evening together... Armed... sigh... :-)

Jane & Ron

[Jane308]

Nothing tonight... left the light on in the shed with the doors open... nothing.
Put big bulb in yard light for more light... nothing...
With fireworks and dogs barking hard to hear anything...

Was hoping for more visuals (with the lights) since the audio was out of the question tonight...

Oh well, we'll strike again tomorrow.

[Asa Lenon]

I don't know if you have fisher in your area but when the same thing happened to me years ago it ended up being a fisher when I finally got him.

[RdFx]

I agree with Asa as i have a friend that raises pheasants and fishers get into  smaller places than the large coons do...a big male fisher possibly not but a female or young fisher definately.  The preditor probably has moved elsewhere but if you didnt get the one doing the damage it will probably be back.  Good luck on your hunt. 

[Jane308]

Fishers, I didn't know what they were... I have never seen nor heard of them around my area. We live about 700 feet east of a swamp area, where ol man has seen wessel and muskrat... And reading about it now... thanks for the heads up.

[fishdaddy]

maybe an owl ..we had one get my uncles chicks it would reach in the cage and try to pull them out by the heads and pull their heads off.

[Bogmaster]

 Everything loves chickens--owls will keep coming back till nothing is left--don't forget about mink.
 I prefer the white meat myself--so it wasn't me.
 Tom

[cotton jonas]

had some small chicks in a "varmit proof" cage on time years ago and was finding some with heads gone just like yours.
 kept watching for a day or two and caught a hawk hanging on the side and grabbing a chick.