2 chickens dead 2pm ???! Help

[Comsicwonder]

Warning graphic photo!!

New to this site I’ve had chickens for about a year I have them in a pretty secure barn over night with a chicken door to the outside that opens and closes automatically with a poultry electric fence around their area. I have covered areas outside set up for hawk attacks.

I fed them this am around 10am ans then went out at 2pm and there as a dead chicken in the field head still on and body was devoured. I put up another canopy out thinking it as a hawk

Same thing today!! But now in the coop not outside. I’m thinking an animal bypasses the electric fence maybe I have a weak point they slid under it and went through the chicken door

Same style of attack sorry for the graphic photo.

What animal would attack a chicken at 2 pm?!!

My plan is to secure the fence better and double check all areas of the barn

 

[SilverBirds]

So sorry for your loss. Where in the world are you located? When you say she was killed in the coop, does that mean the run or the actual coop?

 

[lagrange chicks]

Do you have possum in your area? Could of been a feral cat also. A cat would be brave enough to go in the coop and possum dumb enough.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! So sorry for your losses, it's hard.
Maybe a fox or raccoon, or critters already mentioned. Location, pictures of your coop and run, all helpful here.
Many of us have learned the hard way that our coop set-up isn't safe enough. Your predator will be back soon, can you move your birds to a safer place? Or reinforce what you have today?
Mary

 

[pvaldes]

I would say opposum, but could be other small mammal like a racoon also. Does not look like a dog nor a fox (They wouldn't remove the meat so delicately) and raptors don't attack at 2pm. Could be also an owl, but inside a closed cop? nah

 

[Jakemedic]

Probably not a rabid raccoon? The only way you see racoons during the day is if they are sick. But the sick raccoons I have put down over the years are slow….. can’t imagine them actually catching a hen. Sorry for your loss.

 

[sourland]

The way the meat is stripped from the bones makes me think it was a raptor. Yes, both hawks and owls will enter a coop to kill. I have experienced both in my coops and lofts upon occasion.

 

[Kung_pao]

I would say opposum, but could be other small mammal like a racoon also. Does not look like a dog nor a fox (They wouldn't remove the meat so delicately) and raptors don't attack at 2pm. Could be also an owl, but inside a closed cop? nah

Why don't raptors eat at 2pm? Is it their nap time or something? I see them from sun up to sundowns, but I’ve never really looked at my watch to see what time they eat specifically, I assumed it was any time the opportunity arose. I’ll have to do some more research on the subject.

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

probably racoon. just because they aren't usually out doesn't mean they never are. a few years ago, when I was just getting into chicken farming, had a racoon come two nights in a row to eat my rhode island red chicks. stopped when I surrounded the outdoor brooder with large stones, and secured the thin wood- framed wire door with a childproof cabinet lock.

 

[Kung_pao]

probably racoon. just because they aren't usually out doesn't mean they never are. a few years ago, when I was just getting into chicken farming, had a racoon come two nights in a row to eat my rhode island red chicks. stopped when I surrounded the outdoor brooder with large stones, and secured the thin wood- framed wire door with a childproof cabinet lock.

Raccoons are terrible and if they are hungry they will come out day or night. I wish they weren’t so cute, I shoot them but it’s hard lol.