I have a question. How can you tell between a catʻs kill and a mongooseʻs kill? My sonʻs roo, Nutz, was on a tie out for a couple hours while my son cleaned and repaired his coop. My son fed Nutz, then went to the store and came back to find Nutz gone. All he found was feathers, his leg (that was still attached to the tie out), and a clump or two of chicken parts here and there in the yard.
At first, I thought it was the neighborʻs chihuahuas because theyʻre always sniffing and barking around in my yard, but she said her dogs donʻt eat any chickens, they kill it and play with the body. (She couldnʻt find anything resembling chicken pieces in her yard.) Then she suggested that maybe it was mongoose...but I dunno...
We live in rural Haiku, Maui and the area behind our house has an old, dried up stream bed about 30 feet from the back yard. The area is slightly overgrown with cane grass--because of the recent rains--but is usually cut low and managed. I know thereʻs mongoose everywhere, but I donʻt think they reside so close to our homes, do they?
Anyway, any ideas on determining what couldʻve killed Nutz would be appreciated. We have 10 other chickens--5 RIR hens, 1 RIR rooster, 3 young unknown pullets, and another unknown rooster--that we donʻt want to lose. The pullets and young roo we still have are about the same age as Nutz and weʻve been paranoid about letting them out of their run for fear of getting eaten...
Mahalo ~
