➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[ShrekDawg]

All I can see is Kiki saying "Off with his head"

 

[Tesumph]

Nahh I wasn’t haha

And that makes sense!

And no it wasn’t. We spent a lot of time putting hardware cloth over the whole top and zip tying it on and everything. Even zip tied the overlap in the middle. Guess I should have spent a little more time on the bottom. but we don’t have too many predators here and I really thought diggers would be the main concern. Guess not. Need to buy some more HC. We also ran out after using it on the roof.

And not that I could see but I didn’t really look at him. Just grabbed him and bagged him. I could take him out of the trash and check though. From what I saw, it looked like his head was bloodied and one wing had a bald spot.

Without seeing body wounds it would be hard to tell. Not a bird of prey. I would guess a raccoon riled them up and nabbed him through the fence.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Without seeing body wounds it would be hard to tell. Not a bird of prey. I would guess a raccoon riled them up and nabbed him through the fence.

I’ll have to go check. Seems like the raccoons could have reached his head though? Maybe something spooked it and it ran off. I guess a hawk couldn’t have killed him through the fence? They’re too slow or whatever? What would it have been doing hanging around though? Just trying to scavenge? Shoot.... I wonder if he somehow snuck back out last night... they sometimes have been trying to sleep back there but I put them all in last night, it was already well after dark and they’ve been staying out once out inside so I didn’t think to check again and make sure he was inside... but I don’t think he would have come out alone and he wasn’t really stiff yet so I think it had just recently happened.

 

[Tesumph]

I’ll have to go check. Seems like the raccoons could have reached his head though? Maybe something spooked it and it ran off. I guess a hawk couldn’t have killed him through the fence? They’re too slow or whatever? What would it have been doing hanging around though? Just trying to scavenge? Shoot.... I wonder if he somehow snuck back out last night... they sometimes have been trying to sleep back there but I put them all in last night, it was already well after dark and they’ve been staying out once out inside so I didn’t think to check again and make sure he was inside... but I don’t think he would have come out alone and he wasn’t really stiff yet so I think it had just recently happened.

Hawk was just watching them. That's what they do. I can't imagine a hawk having the dexterity to reach through a fence and kill a chicken, and the wounds don't look like they're from a beak or talons.
Unless you missed his body for over 36 or so hours then yes it would've been recent.

 

[FortCluck]

I’ll have to go check. Seems like the raccoons could have reached his head though? Maybe something spooked it and it ran off. I guess a hawk couldn’t have killed him through the fence? They’re too slow or whatever? What would it have been doing hanging around though? Just trying to scavenge? Shoot.... I wonder if he somehow snuck back out last night... they sometimes have been trying to sleep back there but I put them all in last night, it was already well after dark and they’ve been staying out once out inside so I didn’t think to check again and make sure he was inside... but I don’t think he would have come out alone and he wasn’t really stiff yet so I think it had just recently happened.

Hawks definitely are not slow, but the likelihood of them to be able to grab a hold of prey that's inside fencing is pretty hard to imagine.

I would say that it was a raccoon or an opossum and I would say that it will be coming back.

 

[FortCluck]

Hawk was just watching them. That's what they do. I can't imagine a hawk having the dexterity to reach through a fence and kill a chicken, and the wounds don't look like they're from a beak or talons.
Unless you missed his body for over 36 or so hours then yes it would've been recent.

I agree. I have seen what hawk talons can do and that chick would be ripped to shreds.

When a hawk barely grabbed my white cochin, It tore right through her skin enough for my fist to fit through. She made it, but their talons are like knives.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Hawk was just watching them. That's what they do. I can't imagine a hawk having the dexterity to reach through a fence and kill a chicken, and the wounds don't look like they're from a beak or talons.
Unless you missed his body for over 36 or so hours then yes it would've been recent.

That makes sense!! Maybe saw the kill and thought it’d try to get a meal? Or a coincidence maybe. But yeah, I find it hard to believe it would be able to kill through the fence on the ground. I’m going to look more closely for wounds I think.

And yeah, not possible. I checked them last might around 6 when I put them to bed so it would have had to have been this morning I guess. They’ve been waking up even earlier than my big chickens.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I agree. I have seen what hawk talons can do and that chick would be ripped to shreds.

When a hawk barely grabbed my white cochin, It tore right through her skin enough for my fist to fit through. She made it, but their talons are like knives.

Oh wow!! Glad she’s okay!! But yeah there would probably be more wounds I guess.

 

[sdm111]

Hawks can definitely grab a chicken through 2x4 welded wire and eat its crop out through the wire. I have first hand experience with hawks

 

[Molpet]

A predator would pull parts off through the fence. That wing looks through the fence looks more like a bird flailing and getting a wing through..
Need more info on wounds