Which predator?

[cdavis76]

I found one of my bantams today in the pen dead....her head was gone along with organs and half of her breast area down to bones....found no evidence of anything going underneath fence so it had to climb fence or fly into pen..any ideas of what could have done this?

 

[kokeff]

Sounds like a raccoon or a weasel. What area of the country do you live in? And what time of day did you find your hen dead? So sorry for the news. Its heartbreaking. We just lost one of ours to a fox. Was she by chance laying close to the outer area of her pen? Birds will grab her and take her away, leaving little behind so definitely wasn't a hawk or owl. Sounds most like a weasel. They take in innerds out, chew off the rear ends and the backs of their heads and neck and then leave the rest. Go to the store and get the September/October edition of Chickens magazine from Hobby Farms. They have a great, large and in depth article about figuring out which predator got to your birds, based upon what you have found left behind. You can also go to chickensmagazine.com and probably find the article. Sorry for your news

 

[cdavis76]

I live in north central ar and don't think we have weasels i looked for racoon tracks but found none and as flimsy as wire is at top would have thought a heavy coon would have bent it over.

 

[kokeff]

Racoons can actual chew through the chicken wire, but they are known for staying outside of the coop and reaching in. Then they eat the parts of the bird they can pull out. In Ar do you have ferrets, minks, martens or fishers? they will all do same as a weasel. Coyotes will also pull through the fencing.

 

[cdavis76]

I think I have found the culprit maybe early yesterday morning at daybreak I went out and there was a owl inside of the pen going crazy b/c the pen is small and he couldn;t get a good start to swoop out so he was just flying back and forth into the wire.

 

[jak2002003]

wow. was it a big owl? I had one eating my ducklings when they were resting on the lake bank at night.

What happened to the owl? Hope you did not loose any more birds. Are you going to cover you open top run now? That will also stop hawks, and animals that will climb in.

 

[cdavis76]

by the time I went to house for gun and came back out of the house he was flying away and I did cover the top on thaat pen but have three more pens to go...but so far he hasn't messed with any of my large breed chickens just my banty pen.....he was a young owl.

 

[NuAgePaulBunyun]

Most fitting thread I have found. So this morning when I let my chickens out, I found one dead with her head ripped off and chest tore open. No meat was taken from chest.

I killed a baby possum lastnight but this critter was a baby , not even 10 inches. Maybe weighed 2 or 3 pounds. I don't think the little critter could of tore the head away. And after inspecting the possum it had no blood on paws or close to its mouth. Maybe the size of an egg thief at best.

Sorry for the pic of feces, but it's the only trail left behind.


Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[clucklandbrenda]

We have lost MANY chickens (and cats) to overhead predators. Mostly at night>> Owls are BAD for this.
During the day, you will hear a rukus amongst the flock if they spot a predator in the sky. It's a different call made by the roosters>> Urgent, loud and they'll all be under cover when you investigate. We have Coyotes too but as long as the birds stay IN their yards or return to their yards, they're okay. If they get out and stay out and we don't notice then there will be the telltale pile of feathers in the morning.
Raccoons/Weasels/Fox haven't been a problem, as we are close enough to civilization that they seem to stay away.
Hope this helps!

 

[clucklandbrenda]

I didn't realize that they pull thru the fencing! This makes perfect sense now!? We had one that seemed to be sick and laid by the fence for a couple days. One morning, she was gone and feather's were all over on the other side. She was under the little chicken house so I knew it wasn't an owl. Crazy!