What killed my chickens?

[Spottyappy]

Very sadly, found 11 of our 12 chooks dead or missing during the week,in one attack.
I am not convinced it was a fox, so perhaps others who have sadly experienced similar attacks,could enlighten me as to what may have killed them. Thus, avoiding a repeat if I restock.
When I got there, 3 were totally missing, there was a few feathers dotted about, but not the masses I have seen with fox attacks.
The other hens appeared intact, but one had a bite out from under her wing. They were piled up, in two separate piles,at the the back of the run. No missing limbs, or torn limbs etc.
The run is about 8 feet tall, I have wire netting along the ground to about 2/3feet out. No wire was disturbed, no holes seen. Along the back is a hedge, about 12 feet tall, and one side of the run literally butts onto it.
There is a ditch behind the run with water in, so unlikely to have been a stoat or weasel as gather they dislike water. Would a mink kill like this though? I have seen no evidence of mink in the area, but imagine they will travel. What would pile the bodies up,but not leave a fox like trail of limbs and blood?
The only external evidence is some few feet away from the run, going into the hedge and ditch, where there has been an egg dropped, and a couple-literally- of feathers.
No feathers on the wire or anywhere obvious that an animal may have dragged a chicken out by.
Any help appreciated, as whole family is upset at our chooks loss, and how the culprit got in, and can be prevented from doing so again.
Many thanks.

 

[catxx]

So sorry for your loss

Could people be the culprit? There are some nasty types out there. Was everything padlocked?

Have you poked at all the wire to make sure none has come loose but doesn't look it unless its forced? Including the roof panels?

Sounds very odd with them piled like that

 

[DizzyDoughnut]

Could it have been a polecat? They can fit through amazingly small gaps. Not sure if they would pile them up though

 

[paddi22]

we had a similar fox attack over an 8ft run, would be even easier to get over if they could scramble up a hedge. smaller attackers wouldn't tend to pile them. relly sorry about your loss, attacks are always horrible!

 

[BabyA]

We had a fox get into our 12ft pen, remember a fox isnt much bigger than a cat so if there is a hole it doesn't have to be very big. Again a fox will kill everything quite quickly with a good shake. If your chickens are used to dogs/cats they may not have been worried at first. Ours were in piles too which I didn't think foxes did so would be interested to hear if anyone else has had chickens killed then piled up, we did suspect our neighbours dog which was good at killing stuff and a working dog would possibly put its kill in piles?
It's not a plesent sight so I'm sorry you've lost your chickens this way

 

[Spottyappy]

Thx for the input.
We did think people, but the camera show nothing, not even birds so whatever it was,didn't get picked up on them. Gates all padlocked although not into the chooks,and, yes a person could climb over. But, the cameras should have caught them.
The mesh on the floor has not been lifted for anything to climb through. The sides of the pen are mesh,mostly with holes too small for anything bar a sparrow to get through, however one side, which is double mesh, has bigger holes, probably 2" x2", similar to the smallest on sheep netting. Being doubled, most are not that size, as we over lapped as much as possible, to reduce the hole size.
The hedge is mostly thick, though thre is a post and rail fence which the hedge has grown through.
Also, has electric round it, though think that may have earthed as had not cut some weeds down which were touching it.
Not seen any pole cats locally, but guess you normally wouldn't,though again unsure they would go near the water behind the run.
Chooks not used to dogs, we did have a yard cat but lost him earlier this year. The chooks were used to him, yes, but not in the run as we didn't allow him in there. He couldn't get through any of the wire,the holes were too small.
Catxx, no roof, sadly, as run is huge, hence the tall sides and electric.it is about 40' x 30'.
We also put the cameras in the run over next couple of days,but whatever it was hasn't returned.were hoping we would find out not just what,but where it came in so could eliminate weakness.

 

[jrp204]

Sounds like a fox,I had a fox get in with some young chicks, it killed them and hid them all under a rug in the shed.

 

[Cobbysmum]

A stoat or weasel killed all of ours. Burrowed under concrete and killed and dragged each one to the hole it had made. Couldn't obviously get them through hole so decapitated them. Lovely sight first thing in the morning!

 

[Honey08]

What was the bite like? A fox bite would be bigger and like a dog bite. We had a couple attacked (and one killed) by a stoat or weasel, which got through a 2" gap under the gate when I saw it. The attacked one had a bite on her neck and it was a puncture type wound - it was the day before I saw the stoat, and I thought they'd been fighting and she had been pecked (we had recently added new hens and they were still squabbling). The stoat only killed one though, and went back each day to try again, by the looks of things. It left hardly any feathers, I just though I'd misscounted at first.

How awful for you.

 

[Alexart]

Sounds like a fox to me too - they are remarkably good climbers - I've got 6ft chook fencing and they can easily climb it! They don't always leave a mess at all, we had a fox get 6 chooks one evening and it had literally pounced on them and snapped their necks with very little noise or fuss and hardly any feathers or marks on the birds, what gave it away was the fact 2 of the birds had been carried off and buried for later, which as you have 2 missing the fox will have taken them, a mustilid would struggle to get a chook over an 8ft fence where as a fox would have no trouble. Mustelids tend to drag their prey off and usually only take one or 2 out then drag them off, rats tend to eat them where they fall and badgers just destroy everything or dig a darn great hole! I bet if you left the bodies and set up a camera you'd catch the fox coming back for the rest to stash for a rainy da - it's that time of year when fox cubs are getting pretty big and the vixens are getting desperate for an easy meal!

 

[minnierosie]

We had lots of chickens killed recently. Normally it is a fox but if you are by a foot path it might of been a dog of the lead. Stouts also kill chicks very rarely chickens though.

Badgers may kill chickens as well.

Sorry for your loss.

What kind of pen are your chickens in?

Sorry again

 

[its_noodles]

why dont u install a webcam and see what happens...

 

[Clodagh]

I would say fox.
We have lost chickens to mustelids - both stoats and mink - in the past and they tend to bite the heads off and sometimes eat down into the body. Also, if your birds roost would a staot have beena ble to get to them? I have only lost broodies or elderly birds to them.
Foxes kill all they can then stash the excess, so the fox may well have been taking the
bodies away when he/she was disturbed.
Sorry to hear about that though, it is so sad.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

So sorry about this; its horrible, happened to us last year, we had some little guinea fowls which the fox took away, plus it killed the ducks and just left them, plus our lovely three pet hens, just killed and left.

We knew it was a fox coz the whole place just reeked of it We had the chicken run surrounded by a single electric wire which we thought was sufficient, but obviously not, we didn't realise foxes could climb up, which they one obviously did once it was over the single trip-wire bit.

Someone else recently said they'd heard of badgers killing chickens (so much for the cuddly ooohh-so-sweet image portrayed, sorry I digress here!!); also in OP's case would also suspect a stoat, ferret or weasel, or possibly a mink.

 

[Bestdogdash]

We have lost a couple of hens to badgers. Not a feather to be seen - they simply disappeared. Got the on camera though. I don't thnk your sounds like a badger killing though.

 

[Spottyappy]

Thanks everyone.
We have put cameras up and left a bait chicken, but nothing on them except crows and magpies.
The fence is all mesh, mostly smaller hole that chicken wire, and stronger so a fox couldn't bite through.
However, a small area about 4' long is sheep,type netting, metal again so not easily chewed, but as the ones were bigger, we doubled it to reduce size of holes.
There is electric strung round whole of perimeter, externally apart from the hedge side,where it is internally, but standing also about 2" over the top of the fence. I do believe electric had earthed however, so possibly that was the reason an animal may have climbed over.
We have a badger sett in the field, but again no sign of them and I don't believe they would get over the fence
Am leaning towards mink, although alexart that is interesting that you had fox attack with little obvious signs too.
The one bird who had the obvious wound,it looked like maybe a rat or something had bitten her under the wing, it was not a big hole, I almost missed it. But of course rats or crows may have got to her before me, too.
Nature is so cruel.

 

[Dry Rot]

Sorry to hear about your hens.

Generally, these attacks follow a pattern. The predator is triggered by knowledge (don't ask me how they know!) that a spell of bad weather is coming or they have young to feed...or later on they have young who need to be taught to hunt and kill.

So, maybe watch the weather forecast? Just a suggestion, but something I've noticed over the years.

 

[MyBoyChe]

Our yard owner lost 17 out of 23 this weekend. Chooks are free range but normally roost at night in one of the barns. Not found many bodies or many feathers considering. YO picked up a fox on the cameras when he checked through the film yesterday so fairly sure it was a fox