Runner killed; only head and neck missing

LindenLady

In the Brooder
May 3, 2015
32
4
39
Illinois
I received 2 adult Indian runners (male and female pair) yesterday from a friend. I coop up all my "birds" (chicken, guinea, duck, turkey) every night but chose to leave this pair out to give them some space on the first night. My friend dropped them off around 5 pm and it's dark by 7pm so they didn't have much time to all get acquainted. My drake and her drake weren't getting along right away, of course, so I didn't want them to have problems and possibly fight when the "newbies" invaded their home (coop) without being properly acquainted. Well, I came out this morning and found the drake swimming alone in the kiddie pool and the female "sleeping" near the fence. I thought that was odd behavior but I don't know these ducks yet and it was chilly last night and I thought she was sleeping with her head and beak tucked under her wing. But as I got a closer look, I was horrified to find that just her entire head and neck was missing from her body!!
I'm thinking aerial night hunter, possibly owl ???

Because the entire fenced pen is 5 foot tall and it's electrified, so I'm thinking probably nothing climbed over... (unless the critter didn't mind getting shocked!!)

Has this type of kill happened to anyone else ???
 
Owls totally will yank the whole head and neck off, take it from me, I have experience with owls
somad.gif

One lesson I learned too late, NEVER leave your duck out, they always must be in at night.
 
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