Where do Raccoons put heads?

[Icantraisechickenshelp]

I know the title is a bit unsettling, and maybe you are wondering why I'm asking this. Here's the story:

So, basically, my chickens got attacked. At night. By a Raccoon. It was no doubt a Raccoon, I checked security footage, and the killing style was basically a raccoon signature attack-- reach through a fence, kill the chickens, bite off the head, and leave with a pile of feathers and a body on the floor as the only proof. But only today that some friends asked me where the head goes.

The raccoon kills the chicken. It bites off its head. But it won't eat the head, surely? The head is only a skull, nothing to eat. So where would the head go?

The question caught me aback. I realized they had some logic into that question. I really never thought about it before!

Where does the head go?

 

[Molpet]

Usually owls eat the head
Coons usually are messy eaters with parts chewed and left about

 

[Icantraisechickenshelp]

Usually owls eat the head
Coons usually are messy eaters with parts chewed and left about

It was at night, and the image in the security camera was definitely not a owl.

 

[Mylied]

I always figured they ate the goey bits and left the skull somewhere in the woods.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I think they wrap it in a napkin and stick it in their purse so they don't have to pay for another buffet.

 

[sourland]

Many predators eat the head first as the brain is a rich source of nutrients. As mentioned it is the favorite of GHO. As a kid I remember a raccoon getting into a local farmers coop killing multiple hens and eating only the heads. The dummy then proceeded to go sleep in a nest box - very dumb move.

 

[ValerieJ]

I think they wrap it in a napkin and stick it in their purse so they don't have to pay for another buffet.

 

[ValerieJ]

Many predators eat the head first as the brain is a rich source of nutrients. As mentioned it is the favorite of GHO. As a kid I remember a raccoon getting into a local farmers coop killing multiple hens and eating only the heads. The dummy then proceeded to go sleep in a nest box - very dumb move.

I'm guessing, the last move.

 

[nuthatched]

I think they wrap it in a napkin and stick it in their purse so they don't have to pay for another buffet.

I think chicken skulls are mostly cartilage and soft...things, I don't imagine they're any, um, 'crunchier' (gag me ) than a crawdad...

 

[R2elk]

I think chicken skulls are mostly cartilage and soft...things, I don't imagine they're any, um, 'crunchier' (gag me ) than a crawdad...

Having seen plenty of chicken skulls, I can guarantee you that there is plenty of bone structure there. They are definitely much crunchier than a crayfish (aka crawdads).