Ok experts. Good friend of mine lives on a lake surrounded by woods. A few neighbors close by. They are new to rural living. Wife goes out to the chicken coop today and all the chickens are dead. I have no other details but will see what I can learn. Thoughts?

A posstum will kill them and leave em laying. Hammered to us.

Opossum, coon, mink Wiesel. Coon have killed the most of mine.

Look for tracks and scat. Did the raider get in a coop? Open door? Did it dig into a run?

Lots of raccoon issues here in the spring this year.

I had 45 killed a few years ago. A stray dog got them.

WS

Sounds like it could be a Mink? What size of an access? Any chickens missing or are they all there? What kind of damage to the chickens?

Leave the chickens in place and set up a trail cam, you'll know for sure soon enough...

My first guess

Mink would be my guess.

biggest hole in the coop?

are they pulled through the wire ?

coop damage?

pictures of the dead chicken?

are their necks bitten or heads half off but no other damage to the birds?


close top coop?

..... coon everytime around here

Only way to find out is drive over and read the sign

With what you are saying, A nuclear strike is pretty low on the suspect list as obviously the phone still works. Other than that, anything goes without more detail.

Yep

Most I have looked into were coon killed. One was mink but obvious through limited access to chickens. Took care of with 110 in hole entry. Told everyone else good luck with the coons.

Are the chicken breasts headless?

One time I had a similar scenario with a guy who had pheasants and ducks for dog training. Pen looked like a war zone. He declared up and down it was a fox, but when I took a good close look at the sign and the hairs near the hole it came in on, I told him he had a feral cat problem.

Turned out to be a biggest, meanest dang grey tomcat I ever encountered.

Moosetrot

One bird is opened up on its back and eaten. All the other have holes toward the lower spine not the bellies, neck or butt area. They were in an open area fenced in but no top cover. They were out for the day time in a fenced in area. 5 were killed in the yard area 4 were killed in the coop. Sand floor, no tracks that I can tell. Is a bird possible?

Do they roost inside a building or just out In the enclosed area?

An owl killed 9 of mine in one night. So.w were eaten like you described. Some were just killed and not eaten at all

I'm convinced my banty rooster died of a heart attack as he waa being chased.

It happened all I.n one night and it won't get anymore. Guaranteed

Anytime I’ve ever had something eat the guts or butt area it was possum. Fox, coyote, and bobcat usually take them. Raccoons will eat the heads and tear them up some. Weasel and mink sometimes the wound is hard to find. I’ve had neighbor’s dogs get in and kill them all and not eat any. My bet is raccoons.

I had problems with owls ,