only head off!!!!

[Majd]

Ok so yesterday my duck was eaten by something as we forgot to lock them up.... there were no feather inside the coop but the carcass was lying 20 meters from the coop.... no head.... but the body was intact.... so I don't know what predator whould only drag it to a new lication and take the head/neck off and not wven tough the other part....???
And the she was my first and only duck raised from when she was a baby.... the other chickens were so afraid after that...

 

[yogifink]

Where there any other marks on her?

Sounds like a 'playing' dog to me. A wild animal would have consumed the whole bird, unless it was scared off by something.

We lost 2 hens a month or so ago to a neighbors dog. The hens jumped out of their run into the neighbors yard, neither was eaten, but both had a few bites and missing feathers. Our younger pellets did not come out of their coop for a day or two after...

 

[dandrews1971]

Sounds like Owl to me. If a dog got it, IM thinking there would be feathers. Owls are super fast & super silent, swooping down before they know what happened. They typically only hunt in twilight hours too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

From what you describe, my first thought is an owl. Their usual pattern fits well. You should find puncture marks on the body if it was an owl.

I see you are in Lebanon. Not sure what other predators you have there. Here a bobcat would eat the head first, but usually a cat will carry the bird off and hide what it doesn’t eat for a later meal.

Members of the weasel family will also eat the heads. They are usually vicious killers and take out a lot of birds when they attack but I can’t rule them out.

Those are my top three guesses, owl, cat or weasel. Not all predators read the manual and act as they are supposed to so it could possibly be something else. Good luck! These things can sometimes be hard to solve.

 

[Majd]

Where there any other marks on her?

Sounds like a 'playing' dog to me. A wild animal would have consumed the whole bird, unless it was scared off by something.

We lost 2 hens a month or so ago to a neighbors dog. The hens jumped out of their run into the neighbors yard, neither was eaten, but both had a few bites and missing feathers. Our younger pellets did not come out of their coop for a day or two after...

No marks at all.... only the neck missing..... I think a fox...

 

[Majd]

Sounds like Owl to me. If a dog got it, IM thinking there would be feathers. Owls are super fast & super silent, swooping down before they know what happened. They typically only hunt in twilight hours too.

That's what I thought first... but after I burried her yesterday... today I found out that something dug a small hole and got the big muscovy out of this small hole and ate some of the left shoulder... so nope I don't think owl.... but I think maybe a fox or a dog... but mostly a fox because gogs here would leave piles of feathers after they kill it.... but foxes here are extremely hard to see... maybe by mistake at dawn... that's the only time I saw a fox here years ago....

 

[Majd]

From what you describe, my first thought is an owl. Their usual pattern fits well. You should find puncture marks on the body if it was an owl.

I see you are in Lebanon. Not sure what other predators you have there. Here a bobcat would eat the head first, but usually a cat will carry the bird off and hide what it doesn’t eat for a later meal.

Members of the weasel family will also eat the heads. They are usually vicious killers and take out a lot of birds when they attack but I can’t rule them out.

Those are my top three guesses, owl, cat or weasel. Not all predators read the manual and act as they are supposed to so it could possibly be something else. Good luck! These things can sometimes be hard to solve.

Weasels were on my list by would they dig in the grownd to reclaim a kill... and what predator will leave a kill next to the crime scene and then come back the other night to have some more and leave it again,? Will a fox take it to the den or what...