Overnight death

Ecotypical

In the Brooder
Aug 17, 2015
28
1
26
Woke up this morning to find one of my Welsummers dead in the coop. Her head was all bloodied up and a large section of her side was pecked away down to the gastrointestinal area. All were fine and happy on their roost before I closed the coop last night. The 9 girls have all been together for 11 months now with no problems whatsoever.

I know for a fact that she was the lowest on the pecking order, but I never thought it would lead to an overnight murder. If anybody has any theories or explanations, please fill me in. Thanks.
 
Positive. The coop is airtight. No signs of forced entry. All the other hen were untouched.
 
You might want to set up a game cam in your coop. That's not a death from the flock, that's a predator. We've had other folks here equally as positive their coop was predator proof, but a game cam caught whatever was managing to get in. Whatever it was will now consider your coop an all-you-can-eat buffet.
 
I'm with donrae, get a game camera set up. Whatever killed your pullet will be back. Chickens do not kill each other at night. They can't see in the dark.
 
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Turns out that it was a raccoon that came in via a baseball sized vent. I found the wire screen on the vent chewed off. I repaired the screen with hardware cloth. Around dusk this evening, I saw the raccoon as it descended a tree. I got my bow and arrow and sent it straight to where ever dead raccoons go. It was scrawny. Anyway, it didn't suffer.
 
It didn't have a chance. It walked right up to me like it had no fear of humans. At about 8ft, there's no way I'm missing.
 

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