23 chickens and 3 turkeys - dead

[Chief Rick]

Not a good Sunday morning.  Went out to feed the animals and all the poultry were dead.  They were all alive when I went to bed last night.  Whatever it was tore through the nylon netting we have strung over the run and then dug its way out.  At least 8 were killed in the nest box and two were outside the run.  I couldn't see tracks or claw marks.  Very few appeared to have anything eaten on them. 

[JP McLintock]

Weasel

[Sedalia Dave]

A Fox, Weasel, Raccoon or Dog are the most likely candidates. 

 

This may help with the ID and how to prevent another attack.

 

https://pethelpful.com/farm-pets/preventing_chicken_predators

[Tall Tale Todd]

Chupacabra

[Cholla]

My first guess is a raccoon. I lost 21 in one night years ago.

[Texas Joker]

Coon or possum in your neck o the woods. Was it a bloody massacre or were the slimy on their heads/necks?

[Slapshot]

Been there done that. In my case it was a small stray dog that killed my 21 chickens. But I have seen raccons and possums get in my FIL chicken house back in the day and just kill the fire out of chickens without eating the first one.

[Gracos Kid]

My friend has trapped between 50-60 possums and a number of raccoons that have torn into his well wired enclosure and killed a number of his birds.   None seem to be eaten, just caused to bleed out...

[BenW]

Saw a similar thing happen to a friend when I was stationed out in California.  Was a bobcat.  Was told by an older gent who used to trap them that bobcats will kill for no reason.. We did "harvest" that bobcat the next night.

[Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life]

My guess... racoon.

When we started having chickens the coop wasn't as secure as it is now and we found all 10 of the chickens at the time slaughtered. None eaten though lots of blood and wounds. Set out a live trap and caught a fairly large racoon the next night. How did the submariner put it in world war II? Saw ship sank same!

Regards

   

Gateway Kid

[Springfield Slim SASS #24733]

That's what roosters are for. At least you will hear a fight and get out there before they are all dead.

[Chief Rick]

3 hours ago, Texas Joker said:

Coon or possum in your neck o the woods. Was it a bloody massacre or were the slimy on their heads/necks?

Was not bloody but didn't see any slime.  Don't recall but all heads looked to be intact.  Bodies were cold/stiff (temp was in low 60s last night).

[Chief Rick]

39 minutes ago, Springfield Slim SASS #24733 said:

That's what roosters are for. At least you will hear a fight and get out there before they are all dead.

Had one large turkey tom and a rooster.  They were included in my "chicken and turkeys" count.

 

Just found another hen out in the pasture so total count is 23 chickens and 1 rooster, 2 turkey hens and a tom.

[Texas Joker]

Carried away might be a dig or 'yote.

 

Slimy heads and neck I have lost chickens to black snakes they'll try to eat a sleeping chicken head first can't cut its too big but the chicken suffocated. Then the snake moves over one and tries again

[Texas Joker]

This one was a couple years ago

[Chief Rick]

Don't believe it was a snake.  There were a couple of "bite marks" for lack of a better term.  That said, nothing appeared to be fully eaten.  Most of the birds were huddled together in death.

 

I didn't examine the carcasses too closely.  As I said, they were stiff.  Having to duck walk or stoop over to get inside the run to get them all out was exhausting.

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Chief,

Living in MISS., you should have no problem finding a couple teenage boys with a .22 that will stay up at night just

for the opportunity to snipe at the offending varmint.

 

..........Widder

 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

My coop is inside a six foot chain link enclosure with an overhead chicken-wire "net."  They're safe.

 

However, we've had a BUNCH of feral chickens!  At one time I counted over two dozen of the freeloaders grazing in my back yard.  Typically, a dozen or more would roost in a big ol' jacaranda tree.

 

Then I started finding dead chickens.  Two roosters died one night.  Then one morning, I found six dead hens under that jacaranda tree.

 

The Kid showed up one Sunday afternoon, carrying a heavy barreled MAS .22 in a case and a box of CCI CB Long ammunition.  Really quiet combination.

 

"Son, before you put that up, wander back out onto the front screened porch and dispatch that 'possum snoozing behind a bag o' chicken feed."

 

He did.  No more dead chickens.  

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Just to lighten up the thread....  

 

Pa Sleeps Nekkid

 

"Late again," the third-grade teacher said to little Sammy.

"It ain't my fault this time, Miss Crabtree. You can blame this'un on my Daddy. The reason I'm three hours late is my Daddy sleeps nekkid!"

Now, Miss Crabtree had taught grammar school for thirty-some-odd years. Despite her mounting caution, she asked little Sammy what he meant by that.

Full of grins and mischief, and in the flower of his youth, little Sammy and trouble were old friends.  But he always told her the truth.

"You see, Miss Crabtree, out at the ranch we got this here low down coyote. The last few nights, he done ate six hens and killed Ma's best milk goat. Last night, when Daddy heard a noise out in the chicken pen, he grabbed his shot gun and said to Ma, 'That coyote's back again, and I'm a-gonna git him!'

"'Stay back!'" he whispered to all us kids.

"He slipped on his boots, but otherwise was nekkid as a jaybird; drawers, no pants, no shirt! Off to the hen house he crawled, just like an Injun on the snoop. Then, he stuck that double barreled 12 gauge shot gun through the window of the coop.

"As he was starin' into the darkness, with coyotes on his mind, our old hound dog, Zeke, had done woke up and comes sneaking' up behind Daddy... he wanted in on the action. Then, as we all looked on, plumb helpless, old Zeke stuck his cold nose in Daddy's butt!

"Miss Crabtree, I'm late 'cuz we all been cleanin' chickens since three o'clock this mornin'!"  

[Chief Rick]

46 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

My coop is inside a six foot chain link enclosure with an overhead chicken-wire "net."  They're safe.

 

However, we've had a BUNCH of feral chickens!  At one time I counted over two dozen of the freeloaders grazing in my back yard.  Typically, a dozen or more would roost in a big ol' jacaranda tree.

 

Then I started finding dead chickens.  Two roosters died one night.  Then one morning, I found six dead hens under that jacaranda tree.

 

The Kid showed up one Sunday afternoon, carrying a heavy barreled MAS .22 in a case and a box of CCI CB Long ammunition.  Really quiet combination.

 

"Son, before you put that up, wander back out onto the front screened porch and dispatch that 'possum snoozing behind a bag o' chicken feed."

 

He did.  No more dead chickens.  

When I see a possum, I kill it.  No questions asked.

 

Moved the 590A1 with Streamlight to the living room not too long ago.  Where I live, I don't worry about being quiet.

 

The bottom of my run is heavy wire, but the top was open so the wife strung up nylon netting.  It appears that the animal got on the netting and in trying to get away wound up in the run and then went berserk.

 

We will rebuild and this thing will probably be able to safely house pterodactyls before we are through.

[Dusty Devil Dale]

8 hours ago, Cholla said:

My first guess is a raccoon. I lost 21 in one night years ago.

This time of year, female racoons are teaching their offspring to forage and hunt.  So it's likely what occurred. 

Foxes will initially eat only the head of poultry and leave the rest, presumably for later.  I've seen where they went into a poultry pen and killed every bird.  But they would not tear their way in through above- ground mesh.   Grey Foxes will climb.  Red foxes don't, for some unexplained reason.

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

We leave traps and EZ clean bait stations ( for rats and mice) out all year around our chicken coop. Plus a half dozen more bait stations on the property  We went through several rounds of chicken massacres. We have caught one juvenile coon and about 8 or so possums in the last couple years. After our last killing, we caught a massive old possum with a bald face and worn down teeth. We haven’t lost any more in a year since keeping traps out and occasionally catch a possum. Which reminds me, I need to refresh the bait.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Waste not, want not!  

 

'Possum Stew....  

 

 

'Possum Stew

 

• 1 possum; skinned & cut into pieces
• 2 onions; chopped
• potatoes; chopped or sliced
• other vegetables; chopped or sliced
• 1 can mushroom soup
• 2 cans beef gravy
• 1 can water
• 1 tbsp. pepper
• 1 tbsp. garlic salt

Boil the possum meat in a large pot of water with a half cup of salt for about half a day. Pour the water out and add all the stuff to it. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered 4 to 8 hrs.

Gravy is good sopped up with week-old bread. You can eat other stuff with it too. Drink beer.

(TIP: 3 day old roadkill is more tender and easier to skin.)

Yield: 8 Servings

[Cypress Sun]

9 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

Waste not, want not!  

 

'Possum Stew....  

 

 

'Possum Stew

 

• 1 possum; skinned & cut into pieces
• 2 onions; chopped
• potatoes; chopped or sliced
• other vegetables; chopped or sliced
• 1 can mushroom soup
• 2 cans beef gravy
• 1 can water
• 1 tbsp. pepper
• 1 tbsp. garlic salt

Boil the possum meat in a large pot of water with a half cup of salt for about half a day. Pour the water out and add all the stuff to it. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered 4 to 8 hrs.

Gravy is good sopped up with week-old bread. You can eat other stuff with it too. Drink beer.

(TIP: 3 day old roadkill is more tender and easier to skin.)

Yield: 8 Servings

 

Pretty sure that I'd eat the pot first before I'd eat 3 day old roadkill. I know a guy that cooked an armadillo quite like this recipe. Good lord, that stunk.

[Chief Rick]

4 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

Waste not, want not!  

 

'Possum Stew....  

No thanks.  I'll just chuck it back in the woods with other things.

[Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life]

6 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

Waste not, want not!  

 

'Possum Stew....  

 

 

'Possum Stew

 

• 1 possum; skinned & cut into pieces
• 2 onions; chopped
• potatoes; chopped or sliced
• other vegetables; chopped or sliced
• 1 can mushroom soup
• 2 cans beef gravy
• 1 can water
• 1 tbsp. pepper
• 1 tbsp. garlic salt

Boil the possum meat in a large pot of water with a half cup of salt for about half a day. Pour the water out and add all the stuff to it. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered 4 to 8 hrs.

Gravy is good sopped up with week-old bread. You can eat other stuff with it too. Drink beer.

(TIP: 3 day old roadkill is more tender and easier to skin.)

Yield: 8 Servings

Or…. Cut possum into even smaller pieces and put inside multiple plastic bags. Discard ASAP in neighbors trash can. 
Other ingredients into pot, add just about any meat but possum, let simmer and serve with cornbread. 
Regards

    

Gateway Kid

Follow me for more recipe tips 

[Matthew Duncan]

On 10/9/2022 at 2:47 PM, Chief Rick said:

…  There were a couple of "bite marks" for lack of a better term…

I agree with JP, a weasel.

[Pee Wee #15785]

Growing up mom raised chickens to feed us boys.  After mom lost about 100 pullets us boys got put to work, we rolled 8 foot chicken wire out as long as mom want the run lapped the second run over the first by about about a foot then we spent a day wiring the two togather.  Dad sunk post to put the 8 foot wire on then he had his brother cut some 2"x6"x16' tembers to go across the top.  You guessed 2 rows of wire across the timbers us boys wired them up also.  Coop had wood floor with wire on it.  Mom never lost any chickens after that.

[Slapshot]

Possum or Coon.