What killed my rooster?

[Lenihan Farms]

If it was killed before its head was removed off there would be little to no blood

Okay, the only thing is that there are no other injuries on the bird to lead to the assumption that they were killed before their head was removed.

 

[McChooky]

My guess is whatever it was grabbed it by the neck so it couldn't fight back (maybe severed it's spinal cord )then bit it's head off.canines and cats both go for the neck so do weasel and coons.

 

[McChooky]

My suggestion is set up a game camera.
Whatever it was will be back.Sorry for your loss!

 

[TOR]

The only chicken kill I have had with possum, which I think was possum. They start at the anus and eat the insides out. Most possum I get is in the winter because they do not hibernate. The possum I usually get in winter eat the chickens food. The one year I had a larger possum had a bird with the insides eaten out of it. It was a large possum I know because I killed it.

But did not see it eat the bird. Just had the leftovers.

 

[ashcons]

Ate 1 or 2, but just killed the rest for fun.

This is why I have an ongoing war with raccoons. Dogs kill for fun, but they are easy to keep out with hardware cloth. Raccoons are devious little jerks.

 

[McChooky]

Maybe the camera didn't help .Not a word since.

 

[mckenziespallone]

We had a fisher cat do this to some of ours.

 

[pinewoodacres]

My guess would be hawk still (I’ve only read the first page so far). Smaller ones are not much bigger than a chicken and they can land and enter the coop. I lost three to hawks recently (caught the second and third in the act) and they likewise had their heads removed. The first one’s head was gone and I think the others started cannibalizing the body - that one happened when we were out so I can’t be sure of what happened or when. But the next two had their heads off and next to them and they were kind of ripped up. The hawks are generally not big enough to take back off with them. The three I lost were not even three months old yet, so still on the small side.

 

[McChooky]

Weasels make a quick kill, yank their head off & display their bodies .Photos help.