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

 

[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.

 

[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

 

[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.

 

[SilverBirds]

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.

But a raccoon wouldn't strip the bird from all meat and skin like that. They'll eat the good stuff (breast, thighs, legs), maybe tear the bird into pieces, and leave a mess. The way the bird is so neatly picked clean makes me think raptor, but OP said something about the bird being found in the coop, and without knowing the coop setup that may or may not have been the case.

 

[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.

 

[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.