2 chickens missing, Chicken heart found in the yard

[artcgirl]

So I talk over care of my brothers birds when he is away from home in the mornings, I check the water, top up the feed and retrieve the eggs. This morning I went out and there were only 4 eggs. I found that strange so I called out girls and only four of them came running. We have 3 red sex links and 3 leghorns. 2 of the white leghorns were missing . I started to freak out slightly. I scanned my back yard looking for areas they could of escaped and right by the fence to the park I found a cut out chicken heart in my yard. I left the house with my dog and starting calling for them to see if they were in a neighbors yard and if this was just a prank. I didn't hear any response. I have the heart in a zip lock in my fridge. Who would do something like this? like if it was a hawk it would just take the whole bird. there were no extra feathers in our backyard to identify a predator. My brother has special needs and he loves having his own backyard chickens. I don't understand who would do this to him

 

[Kessel23]

Do they have a coop to sleep in at night? Are they completely locked up and secure at night? If they are not then it could have been almost any predator. Just the heart is an odd thing for a predator to leave behind? Can we have a picture of it? It was not a hawk because they pluck their kills on the ground, there would be feathers everywhere. I have seen dogs, coyotes, and fox eat whole birds, feathers and everything.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

A Great Horned Owl.

I have seen it before like sometime in the 80s

 

[artcgirl]

why would an owl only leave a heart behind tho? and yes they have a coop they get shut in at night but it doesn't have locks. we live in a small town neighborhood.we have had backyard chickens for 4 years now and nothing like this has ever happend before

 

[Kessel23]

That looks like the gizzard to me, I would not be surprised if a predator left that behind, it is full of disgusting ground down food and small rocks.

 

[artcgirl]

That looks like the gizzard to me, I would not be surprised if a predator left that behind, it is full of disgusting ground down food and small rocks.

Their were no feathers or blood in the yard tho why would it take the chicken then return just the gizzard?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I once interrupted a GHO's feast and found a partially eaten pullet with the crop, neck, and most of the breast eaten away and the heart exposed. While I looked for the culprit it did an about face and made off with the remainder of my pullet. The heart was all that was left.

Gizzards are as tough as whet leather and not exactly good eats for BofP, so are hearts.

 

[Northern.Ontario]

You have a predator; possibly a raccoon. A raccoon tends to rip heads off. I guess the gizzard was severed from the body.

 

[artcgirl]

I once interrupted a GHO's feast and found a partially eaten pullet with the crop, neck, and most of the breast eaten away and the heart exposed. While I looked for the culprit it did an about face and made off with the remainder of my pullet. The heart was all that was left.

Gizzards are as tough as whet leather and not exactly good eats for BofP, so are hearts.

poor babies That makes sense though. Thanks for your feed back.

 

[Cyprus]

I'm so sorry
It does sound like a predator to me. My guess is that something took those two hens while they were foraging. I suggest that they be supervised while outside.

Considering where you live my guess is it was a raccoon.