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For many years, I did not experience any problems with predators because my chicken coop was protected by a 5-foot fence.
But in the summer of 2012, the situation changed drastically: 22 chicks were killed at once by a weasel, and of those,
only one chick was half-eaten. Illogical behavior - a bloodsucker???
The second visit - December 04, 2012:
In the scope of four visits, the weasel killed a total of 40 chickens, but I finally caught him on January 21, 2013.
It was very difficult to catch the weasel because in general, weasels are not scavengers and they prefer fresh blood.
I caught this weasel almost by accident: on January 20, 2013, I interrupted his latest massacre. He had just killed four adult layers
in the same manner as before: bites to the neck. The chickens were still warm and full of blood; therefore, I speculated that the weasel would return.
In this case, I used bloody chicken bodies as bait.
Based on my previous unsuccessful efforts to catch weasels, however, I'm not sure that it would have been easy to catch the whole family.
I posted video of my weasel here.
I tried to keep this weasel in an insulated cage; nevertheless, he died on January 24, 2013 due to cold temperatures:
Opossum:
Unfortunately, 16 additional chickens were killed in January 2016 during subsequent visits by another weasel:
On February 03, 2016, I caught this weasel by using bloody chickens as bait:
New attack June 24, 2017 A weasel was able to cut through the double metal-mesh fence surrounding my chicken nursery. After this bloody massacre,
the weasel pulled the chicks out through a hole in the mesh, but the biggest one got stuck:
All fourteen one-month-old chickens were killed in this manner:
On June 26, 2017, I caught this weasel by using bloody chickens as bait once again:
Opossum again, July 02, 2017:
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