Found 13 dead chickens this morning in the enclosed run. 7 alive. The dead ones weren't torn apart at all, half of them had their heads gone. Found the entry point, about a 1 inch tall by 2 inch wide spot where the hens had dug from the inside and opened a little hole.
Traps are set, a little bit of everything.
I keep the coons and possums thinned pretty well, betting this was a Mink. There's a creek about 10 yards away.

mink or ermine

That was a mink or weasel. I hope you quickly catch it. Often, they don't come back.

Keith

Kinda what I figured. Especially if it was a male Mink. I set very, very heavy. Hopefully I get it.

Some cubbies with 110 and a trip wire..or the trigger on the bottom..in the shape of an " M ".. or close to it.

That sucks !!

Put a piece of one of the dead birds ..in the back of the cubbies for bait

Yep, got a few of them set.

Mr k snow definetly a mink or weasel they kill to just kill thats why so many were dead i would stick with a little oversized leg traps set from the inside and hair trigger it
position the trap so that the culprit has to walk thru the trap not step over it you will body catch the animal i would clean up all the dead and only bait with one that had been killed
keep in mind using any other bait can draw more mink up toward your coop with a waterway so close good luck sir

Small weasel, mink or ermine. The ermine are known as notorious killers in the pens here. They will kill a dozen or better, at times.

Had a weasel kill two chickens on a rainy night, couldn't hear them making noise with the heavy rain, couple nights later we had a light rain, heard them going nuts, go out & see the weasel run in the chicken door, closed it quick & trapped him inside the coop, go in with the .22, he was running around the coop top to bottom with his tongue hanging out, finely stopped for a second, three holes in the roof later, he was dead. first time in twenty years we had trouble. close the door every night since.

Definitely mink

Female mink.
When I was a kid I worked on a mink farm. Chickens ran all over the mink yard eatng the mink food that fell through the pens. If we found a bunch of chickens had been killed during a short period of time, we knew we had an escaped female. If we fouund one dead chicken, it was always an escapee male.

Had about the same thing happen a few years ago. The coop was tight enough to keep coons and possums out but had a big enough space under door the mink got in. Caught it the next night. Leaned a partial piece of plywood against the barn. Near the entry to the coop with a couple of # 2 Long springs set tight to the barn wall and sprinkled feathers from the dead chickens on the traps and got it. It was a large male.

Had a mink get in last year, I was out doing something by the chicken coop and saw one in the run. Had a .22 handy so I grabbed that and since it's not legal to shoot 'em here I just put a few rounds in front of his face. He left in a hurry

Hope you get that varmint

Caught a nice Mink in a pocket set, baited with chicken this morning. Hopefully that's the culprit.

Male or female?

Can't you protect your livestock?

Exactly it would have been dead here. Love your respect for the law but here it is legal to remove problem wild life as long as you report it within 24 or 48 hours. No one reports when they kill a problem. DNR has more important things to mess with. May as well set up a hot line to report road kill critters. Would be as much as a pointless wast.

It is illegal to shoot Mink and muskrat here in WI. Even protecting livestock, or as a landowner.

I wish I could but I never saw anything about it being legal to do so

Yep

Nice catch KSnow....keep them traps working

Here's the culprit. Will be skinning it shortly.

Male mink.

Do you have a steam near the coop ?

That mink is soaked...or it rained there last night

Yep, nice creek about 10 yards away. Got him in a pocket set, baited with a chicken quarter.

7 years here, first mink issue. I found the hole in the wire where he got into the run. It's patched up now.

Awesome that you got him(mink).Coon are my biggest problem here killing chickens.

I keep the coop thinned out really well. Mink I don't go after outside of trapping season.

What was the trap of choice ??

#11 double jaw, newhouse. On a slide cable.

Nice ....with an old shash weight on the end ??

Brake rotor. There's always a chance to pick up an otter in the creek, so I don't mess around when anchoring.

Upper end gets 24 inch rebar. 1/8 cable.

Yup...the worse case scenario..is that said critter will be waiting for you on the bank..lol