I think my young rooster is killing my hens?

[Folly's place]

Back to our rat problem: food available all the time out there! Eggs and fresh chicken were still better than poultry feed, apparently.
Mary

 

[Shadrach]

If you've got rats in the run then anywhere a rat can get in so can a weasel, stoat and mink with a bit of digging. Rather than dwell on what did it and mess about with feeding arrangements I suggest you find out where the rats are getting in and prevent any further incursions.
Weasels eat rats as do stoats and mink, one follows the other.
I have to write I have never lost a hen or rooster, or even a pullet or cockerel to rats, but I have had rats take eggs and kill recently hatched chicks. One of the reasons rats risk an attack on a broodies nest is she is limited in her response while the chicks are hatching and recently hatched chicks are underneath her drying out. But, once the hen is properly mobile, she'll easily defend herself and chicks against any rat I've seen.

And your point is Shadrach?

If a hen can defend herself and her chicks from a rat then rats killing full grown chickens must be quite unusual, or there is some other factor involved.

 

[Geena]

And your point is Shadrach?

You always get around to it... eventually

I agree, there is likely something else going on, but what is hard to say.
It seems like if a weasel or mink was coming in through the rat tunnels it would just make an easy meal of those yummy morbidly obese rats and OP made no mention of finding any dead rats.
The rats themselves have plenty to gorge themselves on, so why bother trying to take down a chicken.
Interesting case, I hope the OP keeps us updated.

 

[Chicken mob]

It doesn’t seem like it’s big enough for a raccoon or fox or any bigger predators like that but I would suspect maybe a weasel or mink. They could easily fit in there and are known to take the heads.

Could be a possum! They can get thru tiny holes!

 

[Dragonfly Farm]

How about a video!

I'm in PA, local predators would be owls, hawks, falcons, racoons, fox, coyote...

Attacks have been morning. One the other day around lunch time with me outside working on house 150' away, didn't hear anything odd.

That is just such a bummer. Love your set up-the water and food things are brilliant. No answers here except it did look like a bigger hole underneath than a chipmunk would make.

 

[Dragonfly Farm]

Would well fed squirrel size rats take down a chicken? They laugh at the largest rats traps, I might order a Uhlik Repeater trap for the tune of $260. Or poison but im worried the chickens or other local wildlife would find it

Omg I guess you have a rat problem!! pleeeease don’t poison them-it kills owls/dogs/whoever finds the carcass. Yikes good luck. Sorry about Roosie

 

[gmom314]

Yes pls don't put poison out!!!

 

[TheFarm41]

We have last 3 hens in as many days. Hens in hiding positions under logs or in their dust "cave" with heads pulled off laying nearby. No other signs of trama. My coop/run is impenetrable, no signs of damage to bird cloth, no holes larger than a mouse hole. This leaves me to believe something inside the coop/run is killing them. The rooster is from eggs raised this summer by a broody, she was latest killed. One of the new egg pullets was killed too. All the victims were lower on the pecking order. No signs of aggression with other chickens or even the rooster. But he's biggest and the only rooster so he's my #1 suspect. I have him free ranging on his own at the moment and others locked in run.

Heads ripped off usually equals racoon or weasel. Both are very crafty creatures. A weasel can find a hole where you think there isn't one. I would be shocked if the rooster was yanking the heads off your hens.

 

[Terryjr]

Hi, update. Still no ID on culprit but I've stop the chickens from sleeping outside. I redid the dusk to dawn door, think it was a bad light sensor. After door was working again I removed their usual outside roost branch's and the rest sorted itself out. The hens found their way back inside the safer coop at night and no issues since the rooster was taken. I now have an extra control panel, and actuator for an automatic door. I'm going to come up with a way to use it to hinge a door over the feed tubes. This should shut off the food supply from dusk to dawn with a new light sensor. My wife's worried if I cut off supply there, that they will migrate to our house looking for food

 

[Nyhillbillies]

My wife's worried if I cut off supply there, that they will migrate to our house looking for food

This is definitely an option. You will need to secure your trash cans (they can eat through plastic) and compost pile.