What predator?

[animartco]

I am looking for help in identifying a predator that is attacking my neighbours (and today mine) chickens.
The most recent attack he said was in a locked pen and there was a hole.
All the dead birds, - it started with the babies and moved on to the adults, were bitten on the back of the neck.
He blames rats with which both our gardens are overrun, but my rats do not attack things. Would rats kill a healthy adult bantam?
Any ideas would be gratefully received.

[RKB]

Could be Stoat, Weasel, Mink, Polecat, domestic cat....all can get through surprisingly small holes.

[Dogghound]

As RKB says a mustelid or cat is a likely predator here. Rats tend not to use precision bits to the back of the neck this is very much a mustelid or occasionally cat (often throat bite) trait. Rats do predate chickens though especially chicks.

[posie]

..I had this happen some time ago and it was weasles. Exactly the same senario. ,,,Posie,,,

[animartco]

Hi Posie.
So would a pack of weasels all jump up at the back of a chickens neck? It seems unlikey to me. I don't think one weasel could bring down a bantam. They are not the smallest bantams. I would have thought multiple bites all round the throat and neck. Even stoats don't seem to go for bantam, and the hole wouldn't have been large enough for a cat or even a mink. Whatever it is it seems to have settled in to the neighbours garden. Wildlife seldom seem to carry on attacking for such a long time. The chicken houses are near the house, there are outside lights on often, and two dogs living there, and the neighbour has bought a gun and shoots at the rats every evening. Hopefully he has driven it away rather than over to me! Can anyone suggest another deterrent?

[muldonach]

You dont describe the pen or where the hole is, it goes without saying that poultry pens should be sound and well maintained, corroded wire or rotten wood replaced.

I assume that your friend's poultry pen has an inner shed where the poultry are enclosed at night? if not it should have.

Precautions should be taken to prevent predators burrowing under the perimiter normally by taking the wire down into the ground and turning it out for a foot or so.

If the pen is left unattended with the poultry out - i.e. if your friend goes out to work or is away through the day then a perimiter electric fence as used on game release pens will provide another layer of defence.

If you are getting routine predation then dead catch trap(s) set in a tunnel will eventually take the predator out, such traps if maintained set will often take the predator out before losses occur. Obviously care is needed in positioning and setting if pets and / or children are present.

Regards
mac

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by animartco

Hi Posie.
So would a pack of weasels all jump up at the back of a chickens neck? It seems unlikey to me. I don't think one weasel could bring down a bantam. They are not the smallest bantams. I would have thought multiple bites all round the throat and neck. Even stoats don't seem to go for bantam, and the hole wouldn't have been large enough for a cat or even a mink.

They dont hunt in packs, occasionally they are seen in family groups when young are quite old. It is unlikely a weasel but they do kill poultry particularly smaller breeds. A stoat would have no problem tackling a large hen. They dont make multiple bites around the neck they make one percision bite onto the back of the head/neck severing the central nervous system. You would be amazed at the size of hole a mink could get through.

[animartco]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

They dont hunt in packs, occasionally they are seen in family groups when young are quite old. It is unlikely a weasel but they do kill poultry particularly smaller breeds. A stoat would have no problem tackling a large hen. They dont make multiple bites around the neck they make one percision bite onto the back of the head/neck severing the central nervous system. You would be amazed at the size of hole a mink could get through.

Thanks Dogghound. It does sound like a stoat doesn't it? (or perhaps a ferret. Do they kill in the same way?) I don't like the idea of a stoat because I am fond of little Stoaty. He is very friendly with me and my birds. But perhaps this is a different stoat. Do we rule out rats? They don't do this prescision bite to the back of the neck do they? Not even a 'king' rat?
Yes my neighbour is shutting his chicken in their houses now, and he has put a humane trap just inside the hole to try to catch the culprit. No attacks for a few days now. keeping our fingers crossed.

[John_M]

'King' rat?

[gez]

He blames rats with which both our gardens are overrun, but my rats do not attack things. Would rats kill a healthy adult bantam?
Any ideas would be gratefully received.[/quote]
I would start by getting rid of as many off these pests as poss! what ever killed the birds was prob there for the rats in the 1st place. So start here before you restock, gez