Out for blood...

[kayceb]

Last night I went out to do a head count on my 8wk old sex links. I was missing one so I went searching. There is one spot they always go to right after being let out for the day. I went there first and immediately saw my missing chick. Her neck had been snapped and almost all her tail feathers pulled out. She was not cut up and I found no evidence of the feathers or any blood on the others.

When I am out, I never see anything out of the ordinary or any mean things happening. So how do I go about finding my sneaky out for blood killer chick? (I know that’s extreme but it sounds good )

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi.

You've got a dog/cat or other predator lurking somewhere. Your other chicks did not do this.

Animals KNOW when you are watching.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[lazy gardener]

Agreed this was a predator kill, most likely domestic as the bird was not eaten.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It is extremely unlikely one of your other chicks did this. Usually if one chick kills another (it can happen but it is extremely rare) they peck a hole in the head. You see meat and blood.

I don't know what time of day this happened, if you free range, nowhere near enough to even make a guess. There are a lot of predators that go for the head first, that's an easy way to make a kill. A dog could easily have done this, they often kill by playing with the squeaky toy, not to eat it. But it is also possible something frightened the predator off before it could eat the chick. I don't have anything to go on, I'm not even going to try to guess. But suspect another critter, not your chicks.

 

[theoldchick]

Get a game camera and set it up to watch the chickens for you.

 

[lazy gardener]

Only down side of that is that an other bird is lost and all she'd have to show for it is a pic. Not to mention, she free ranges, so the game camera would not cover the whole yard.

 

[twilightgecko]

sorry for your loss.. it really does sound like a dog attack.. they tend to go for the tail/butt .. they don't eat them, just play them to death.. sorry and hope you find your culprit

 

[theoldchick]

My wide angle game cam can get the entire yard. The camera will not stop the predator but it will allow a person to see what is going on in the yard. And the OP mentioned the chickens always go to the same spot-an area to focus the camera on.

 

[lazy gardener]

Well, ok then. I stand corrected. As I sometimes say to hubby: "I was so very wrong, and you were so very right!" The game camera pics that I've seen have had a very narrow focus, or so it appears.

 

[MageofMist]

Could have possibly been a cat as well, instead of a dog. Cats are much more sneakier and are less likely to cause visible damage than a dog would, unlikely if the chicks are large enough, but Angel once took down a rat about the size of one of my 3 month olds with a single bite to the neck, snapping it and killing the rat instantly!
Makes me glad my cat is scared of the chickens instead of seeing them as food.