Suspect: Fisher
This morning I was out for another walk around the property when I found a single chicken leg. The few feathers still left on it indicated that it formerly belonged to one of our Rhode Island Reds. While I was checking this out I heard a curious scratching coming from the top of a large nearby pine tree. I got to the base of it, and looking up noticed two fisher cats scratching around. Turning to continue my exploration I noticed another fisher cat on a stump, about to climb the neighboring tree. I looked him dead in the face as if to say, “you eat my chickens, bub?”. Strangely it didn’t reply but instead just started climbing the tree. As if three fisher cats weren’t enough, as I was coming out of the small pine grove I noticed another fisher cat on the forest floor. He looked at me for a while and I looked at him and then he took off into a thicket.
Now, from what I understand when a fisher cat takes a chicken, or any bird it leaves feathers everywhere. It’s not uncommon for fishers to get “blood lust” and continue to kill more than they could ever eat (like this fisher that killed 69 turkeys) but they generally don’t take the time to carry all the bodies away. Though it’s possible that a mother brought the bodies back as food for her kits. Fishers are solitary animals, so the only explanation for so many being so close together is that a mother is raising her kits in the pine grove.
Fishers give birth in April/May and mate again shortly thereafter. Due to a process called delayed implantation the kits will take a year to be born. Usually, the kits stay with the mother until fall. While it’s possible that the mother killed all 15 and brought the bodies back, I’m thinking that the fisher(s?) showed up, scared the chickens, killed at least one, and the rest just took off running. The lack of mayhem in the coop makes me skeptical that all 15 could have been killed there. No blood, no feathers, just empty.
For those unfamiliar, a fisher is a large member of the weasel family. They make their homes high up in trees and occasionally in burrows or rock cavities. Males can range from 7-20 pounds in extreme cases, while females are usually between 4 and 6 pounds. Fishers have large feet with five toes and retractable claws. They can rotate their back paws 180 degrees and climb down trees headfirst. Females have a range of about 10 square miles, while males have a range of up to 30. They are very capable predators, but despite fear mongering in the media pose no real threat to humans, I’ve been face to face with them a few times and neither party has ever felt very threatened.
The problem with all this of course, is that the chickens could flee a spot they consider dangerous for days. Each day they are gone the fishers have the chance to hunt them on their turf. Again, work took me from a full on search, but between this evening and tomorrow I hope to able to find some definitive evidence so we can decide on a course of action.