Four rare-breed Ixworth hens lie dead, killed during last night in their electric-fenced enclosure by a predator who, as well as finding his way through the fence, managed to force the security door of the coop.In the two weeks we've been away, Tom Bryson, who farms Craigard croft in Ormsaigbeg, has lost fifteen of his precious chickens in three separate attacks. In the first, he lost eight hens and a cockerel, in the second two cockerels, and then the four hens last night. The attacks, as well as wiping out all the Ixworth cockerels he has brought on this year, destroyed his stock of the very rare French breed, Bresse Gauloise Grise - there's a website about them here.
In the first two attacks, the culprit was a pine marten, but last night's killer was a mink. Tom, awakened during the night by a commotion from the field where he keeps his chickens, opened the coop to find the attacker inside. The corpses all show the mink's trade-mark attack, where he kills them by biting through the throat.
Both mink and marten are indiscriminate killers, killing for the pleasure as much as for the food. Most of the dead birds are left. Occasionally, the heads of some of the chickens are bitten off and eaten.
Fortunately, Tom's a real farmer, someone who can cope with the sort of disaster that would drive others to despair. He's already talking of how he can re-stock and how he can further improve his security. As for the attackers, mink can be dealt with, but pine martens are much more of a problem as they, too, are rare and so protected by legislation.
Sorry to hear of the loss of the chickens. But mink and pine martens kill several at once not for the fun of it or for blood lust. It is survival behaviour - the idea behind killing more than one is to kill several and then take them to a stash site for future consumption. Same with foxes. Sometimes it doesn't go according to plan - maybe they get disturbed, or find that the kill is too heavy to remove, thus a chicken owner comes home to find the carnage that you show. My commiserations to Tom.
ReplyDeleteSad to hear about Tom's lost chooks. It is sadly part a parcel of introducing these rare fowl to this wildlife rich area. As he will full well knows and probably knew before he brought them in both mink and martens frequent the area. They are not vindictive but just doing what the do naturally. Secure housing may be the only option. Trapping the mink will help the all round biodiversity of Ormsaigbeg but barring relocation the martens should be left well alone.
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