Preditor eating chicken head and neck

[George8207]

I have lost three laying hens over the last 5 days. The predator eats or takes with it the head and whole neck. The body is left intact. What predator would would do this? I believe wild animals would eat the whole chicken.

There are a couple of stray male cats in our community and I suspect it might be one of them. What do you think? But if a cat, why would it just take the head and neck?

 

[Debby R]

I have lost three laying hens over the last 5 days. The predator eats or takes with it the head and whole neck. The body is left intact. What predator would would do this? I believe wild animals would eat the whole chicken.

There are a couple of stray male cats in our community and I suspect it might be one of them. What do you think? But if a cat, why would it just take the head and neck?

Run a Google search on "what killed my chicken". Tons of information and photos. Your answer will be here.

 

[Rubysword]

Sounds like a raccoon.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Doesn't sound like a cat at all.
We went through same thing two separate times. Both times it was an owl.

 

[sparrow.star]

Coons will pull off the heads through the run wire. If this is being done and the predator has access to the whole bird it's probably something else. Weasels? Maybe an owl, but owls carry off the whole bird or pick the ribcage clean. I read this earlier today:
https://pethelpful.com/farm-pets/preventing_chicken_predators
Hope this helps.

 

[Howard E]

To the OP George, what time of day did these attacks take place?

Most likely culprits for this are coons or owls, but those generally operate at night, during which time neither should be able to get to the birds.

 

[bruceha2000]

99.9% coon. They eat the head, neck and crop and leave the rest of the bird. You need some security upgrades ASAP or your entire flock will be gone soon. The coon will keep coming back until the cupboard is bare.

And coons do not only operate at night, I killed one in my coop 3 hours before sunset 2 summers ago. It was going after a hen I had recuperating in the broody buster box from some unknown medical issue (she did).

That same coon had attacked a hen at 3 AM 2 mornings before that was out brooding infertile eggs in the bushes next to the barn. We didn't even know she was there, thought she had become fox food. I put her in the second stall in the barn, not coon secure after we rescued her because I wanted to break her broody mood. 2 mornings later she was dead in the coop, no head, neck or crop. I think the coon got in through a woodchuck tunnel.

Later that afternoon it came back for Echo. Her box had been in the insecure coop (there is a stand in there for the box) when the coon killed Fae and I moved her to the Fort Knox coop but the door is open all day. I had come to the barn to get scratch to call the free ranging girls in well before dusk to ensure they would be safe from the coon. I did not expect to see the coon in the doorway of the coop at that time of day.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Never seen an owl pick the ribcage clean. If they're small enough the carry whole thing away if they're too big to carry they bite right through the neck and carry head and neck away. That's what they've done here anyways.
Racoons make a lot more mess if they take a head off.
Cats carry off small chickens but any with any size they eat the breast and everything inside and leave the skin and feathers. I've seen them take heads and leave them. Every time they left a chuck of skin and feathers with both whole wings attached.

Agree more details might help.

 

[MotherOfPeepPeeps]

Sounds like the work of a weasel or a mink. I also had problems with a pine Maarten once who did similar work on three hens before I could get someone to come out and remove him... I lived in California and they are endangered, so I couldn't take care of the issue myself.

It we would help to know where you are located.

 

[sparrow.star]

<snip, paste>
"Raccoons will often kill more than they need and only eat the neck and chest area of the birds. Birds that have been consumed in this fashion or maimed through the fence are likely victims of raccoon attacks."