Yesterday afternoon i was headed out to do my chores and i saw one of my ladies, doing what i thought was dust bathing under a tree that's just a little ways from my house. I called her and she didn't get up so i walked over to go say hello (she was one of my friendliest hens and loved to get attention) and when i picked her up i saw that her neck and head were eaten down to the bone and all that was left was bone, her comb, and a strip of skin along the very front of what was her neck.
I'm so confused as to what got her because it was during the day, she was under a tree which is on the shorter side that has branches that provide a lot of cover (some almost lean to the ground) and my dogs were outside and they always scare off predators. I know it wasn't a dog because my dogs have always been sweet to the chickens and have never done anything harmful. We have fox and hawks and things like that around here but i don't see how a hawk could've gotten it from under the tree and there was very minimal feather loss; only what would've been on her neck.. usually with hawks there's a lot more. at least in my experience, and fox never come up this close to the house. So i'm just stumped.
I'm so confused as to what got her because it was during the day, she was under a tree which is on the shorter side that has branches that provide a lot of cover (some almost lean to the ground) and my dogs were outside and they always scare off predators. I know it wasn't a dog because my dogs have always been sweet to the chickens and have never done anything harmful. We have fox and hawks and things like that around here but i don't see how a hawk could've gotten it from under the tree and there was very minimal feather loss; only what would've been on her neck.. usually with hawks there's a lot more. at least in my experience, and fox never come up this close to the house. So i'm just stumped.