Lost a turkey two nights ago, was found with a missing head and the breast were gone. Woke up this morning to find 30+ chinckens dead and are all over the yard. They were in my goat pens and my hog pets as well. I believe it's a fox and probably her pups. No tracks due to the rain. Any suggestions it has to stop tonight. Thanks

Mink will kill every chicken they can get their hands on. Fox usually kill what they can carry off.

Sounds like a mink. We lost 24 chickens till we stopped him. They go for the head and necks.

Like Jonny said, fox take what they kill.

I nearly caught mine in a trap the next night. But wasn't sure what I was trying to catch, and even if I had known it was a mink, I'd never trapped one before.

Try to get him at his point of entry. We caught our chicken killer in the act with a coon hound and a shotgun. Hope you get him.

Were the chickens mostly intact or torn apart?

Mink usually eat heads, drink blood and leave mostly intact corpses.

Fox and coyotes usually take the whole animal.

Coon eat chickens to death and are messy.

Dogs make a huge mess.

If you're going to keep livestock, I recommend getting a live stock guardian dog. They really do work well.

I hope you catch the killer.

Keith

sounds like your sleeping int he yard with a shotgun and a flashlight

My money is on a family of coons, or multiple families.

i'm doing battle with a red fox right now.seems to only hit in the early morning when the girls first come off the roost. got a couple mb450's out and a few cables.any tips on bait or lure? oh.the neighbor lets her chickens and dogs run free, makes it hard to set!

Some had there heads off. The ones we were able to find were for the most part in tact. The closest one was about 25 yards from the coop and the farthest one being about 125 and everywhere in between. Was able to find canine scat just not sure if it is a large fox or small coyote pup. I am about 280% sure if it tries to enter the coop tonight I will know what it was for sure in the morning.

I do keep dps set for the coon all the time. I have noticed the coons carry off out side the fence and eat the whole bird.

Put a trail camera on it so if it comes back you can see what you are dealing with and when.

I am betting on coon. Coon will pull the heads off. They will kill a lot in one night. Some will be gone some will be tore up but this time of year a coon is most likely. Let us know what you find. Adam

My money is on coon/coons. Just a couple weeks ago my sister had 3 killed in one night. We boarded up the coop the best we could. We were thinking it was a weasel or mink because there were only small holes to get in the coop and the heads of the chickens were all eaten. None of the bodies were eaten. There was a good sized gap above the door but we couldn’t see how anything could get in the top of the door. Well the next night there were 13 more dead chickens. The only place that anything could have gotten in was above the door. I started looking around the coop a little better and found that there was a coon sitting in the loft of the attached shed. The coon was going from the roof of the shed down to the coop and in the gap above the door. The coon couldn’t get the chickens out of the coop because the hole was too small. The coon is now dead. I thought for sure that it was a smaller animal. I was wrong.

I had a red fox kill 28 one night,he is now a hat.the best bait is chicken!!!!.

sounds like coon

Coon won't eat the whole bird if they kill a bunch. They may eat some and not touch others. They killed so many of mine they learned to only eat the eggs out of them and move on to the next.

OWL!

owl if it was only a single or 2 and the heads gone - but likely not an owl killing that many - they are not near as wasteful - as well an owl generally will not carry off a bird very far - but they will get in a coop and decapitate if they can

You get em?

I agree. That way you will have a better idea on what you're dealing with and how to end it.