Extremely graphic.. Do not view then complain.. Predator reality

[centrarchid]

The raptors have surprising dexterity with talons. Even a bumbling Great-horned Owl can reach through and grab a victim roosting within 4" of wall if it can also stand with other leg on a perch on the outside. Holes need only be 1" x 2" for the owl to operate. Raptor then holds victim where it is essentially consumed alive until death by shock. The appearance of torn tissue thus looks stringy and dry relative to what a knawing mammal does.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Raptor. Feathers do not appear slobbered own as typical with raccoon attack and bones do not appear broken.

You have a good point but I want to suggest something in the cat family. Once a bobcat gets its meat hooks into a bird it is pretty well over except for the dainty nibbling.

 

[centrarchid]

OP mentioned small raptor of the very sort likely to do as shown. Such birds do not routinely scavenge nor do they keep returning to an area unless they make a catch. Evidence is very strong for actual thief. One must not forget that even little old me has a good amount of experience with predators of all sorts working around the bird pens and I actually put a little effort into studying their ways before going on the witch hunts.

 

[theoldchick]

I'm voting for Cooper's Hawk or similar bird of prey. I had one swoop in my garage to go after a pigeon I had in a dog carrier. It hit the cage with enough force to knock a large dog crate with a metal door several inches across the floor. The pigeon did not even see the hawk coming. The hawk then attempted to use its beak to pry at the holes in the plastic. Then the hawk realized I was there and flew out of the garage. Although startled, the pigeon was not touched.

With a raccoon/opossum/weasel/mink you wouldn't expect to see an intact bone as they usually pull the leg right off. Although if the perpetrator was disturbed you might find this scene. A rat is another possibility.

I'm also voting for a critter cam so the mystery can be solved!

 

[ivan3]

I'm voting for Cooper's Hawk or similar bird of prey.  I had one swoop in my garage to go after a pigeon I had in a dog carrier. It hit the cage with enough force to knock a large dog crate with a metal door several inches across the floor.  The pigeon did not even see the hawk coming.  The hawk then attempted to use its beak to pry at the holes in the plastic.  Then the hawk realized I was there and flew out of the garage.  Although startled, the pigeon was not touched.

With a raccoon/opossum/weasel/mink you wouldn't expect to see an intact bone as they usually pull the leg right off.  Although if the perpetrator was disturbed you might find this scene.  A rat is another possibility.

I'm also voting for a critter cam so the mystery can be solved!

Yes, seems way too fastidious a job for a raccoon, they tend to specialize in messily performed traumatic disarticulations. OP didn't describe the pattern of feathers removed and dropped to the ground below carcass (close-in, some small clumps of fluff, and left in something of a semi -circle would argue for raptor). Raccoons will consume any part of bird with blood on it (including large quantities of blood stained feathers - have observed in GI tracts during dissections, and in scat).

 

[av8torcrj]

No feathers really scattered on ground. Pulled feathers can be seen in pics on and around the landing board.. That's it. I posted many months ago about a hawk of the nature we have described swooping in and essentially taking a bantam chicken from my hands ( not quite, but that close and fearless ) . This earlier occurrence was not more than 10 steps from the scene of this crime. Nothing has touched the carcass in the trap at the base of the loft for 2 nights.
I've seen this raptor chasing my pigeons while free flying multiple times. It will also hide in a large privet hedge and watch what's going on. I've found a fantail in the past months reduced to a pile of fluff. I of course attributed that to the raptor. I thought they were safe in the loft. Obviously not.

 

[YardBird192]

Raccoon. Get a trap of your choice set. It WILL be back and will eat until the plate is clean or you take it out first. Our experience with 24 ducks and 58 chickens has been that an opossum will leave wings, head, and feet. A raccoon got seven hens and one rooster before we finally found a trap that worked. We put two deer cameras out each night to learn his technique and weakness. He got one every night. The first had only the head completely gone, one was pulled over THROUGh/under a roof with wire and out over a five foot fence down to the pond with its head, breast muscle,and leg muscle eaten, all the others had head and breast missing. They are frozen in the dark. Once they are startled, knocked off a roost, etc...they are vulnerable.. They can't see at all. I agree that a hawk would be your daytime predator. Only had one of those and I happened to be in the coop cleaning and scared it off my sea bright so injury was slight. Sickening to find your animals killed. Raccoons are very smart and persistent. (We have one video of a buried pressure trap being felt out, handled by the ends, and pulled out of ground and set out of the way by this raccoon that did so much damage. Unbelievable.)

 

[CrazyTalk]

Found this at my pigeon loft this am. A hawk was sitting atop the cage yesterday but I'm thinking raccoon. I just don't see how with the 1x1 wire and all the room the bird has to escape from the perimeter this nasty varmint could do this. It's either a very smart and strong predator or a really lazy and dumb bird.

I don't think anyone should underestimate how dumb some poultry is. And yeah, racoon. Forgot it was a pigeon - could be pretty much anything - a racoon would have likely torn a bird that size apart through the wire.

I try to build my enclosures so there's nowhere the birds can actually be where they're close to the wire (I use 2x4 welded wire) - first 24" or so from the ground is wood. Roosts aren't close to the wire, etc. You really do need to protect them from themselves.

 

[av8torcrj]

Lost another bird last night in the same manner. Basically the rear 1/3 of the pigeon was removed. I'm increasingly suspicious of a barred owl that has been seen multiple nights and is sitting on a branch looking into the loft as I write this. I thought maybe it was just interested in the mice that could be foraging for scattered feed, but its curiosity and proximity to the scene of the crime is a little incriminating. I wish I had a critter cam. Nothing was ever caught in the live trap. Cooper's hawks were casing the birds during free flight today also.

 

[Baymule]

Get some hardware cloth and hog ring it over the 1"x1" wire.