Are hawks and raccoons the only decapitators ?

[centrarchid]

I thought fox or raccoon originally based on the gnawing pattern and cleaned off back area BUT the attack happened at 9:50ish am, with an electric fence, AND the neighbor saw a giant bird fly out of the enclosure where the dead chicken was found

Timing does not rule out anything. Foxes routinely hunt during day. Great-horned Owls will readily scavenge a carcass. EXCLUDE THEM ALL

 

[BuckeyeAmy69]

I agree owl.

 

[ChristinLewin]

This happened when they were outside of the tractor in the yard free ranging with an electric fence surrounding them. Would an owl do that in mid morning?

 

[Folly's place]

@cmom had a bad experience with one type of netting, and got a better quality version. Have you compared notes with her?
Mary

 

[centrarchid]

Time to change the netting. I have only had issues with the netting when I ran short and put up some crappy netting. It wasn't what I thought it was and I should have returned it, but I put it up anyway and an owl went through it and killed a bird. I put up another piece of the crappy netting because that was all I had at the time and the owl went through it again and killed another bird. I thought the netting might deter any aerial predators. I put another piece of the crappy netting up and moved the birds to another coop and put a camera up and the owl came back and went through the netting again. I had ordered some good netting and replaced the crappy netting and the owl came back and tried to go through the replaced good netting again but this time got caught in the netting. We managed to get it out and into a cage. I called some wildlife people and they came and got it. They told me they had another area to release it in. This is like the netting I bought. ("SUPER STRONG and DURABLE -Tensile Strength: 85/245 LBS per Mesh"). Good luck...
https://www.amazon.com/Aviary-Netting-Heavy-Knotted-Poultry/dp/B012L9ZIFE/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3R015GU0F7DMS&dchild=1&keywords=aviary+netting&qid=1597326958&sprefix=aviary+netting,aps,785&sr=8-6

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This is like the original netting I used. This is the piece I replaced the crappy netting with.
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Will not work if this is a raccoon, which I think it is.

 

[cmom]

I have had my original netting up for over 10 years and it is still in good shape.

 

[sourland]

This happened when they were outside of the tractor in the yard free ranging with an electric fence surrounding them. Would an owl do that in mid morning?

On a cloudy or overcast day, yes, I have had birds killed by GHO.

 

[cmom]

I have seen coons on my game cameras. I also have electric wires around my coops and pens and so far in many years, nothing has gotten past the electric wires.

 

[centrarchid]

We are talking about the OP's situation.

 

[ChristinLewin]

Will not work if this is a raccoon, which I think it is.

I thought fox or raccoon originally based on the gnawing pattern and cleaned off back area BUT the attack happened at 9:50ish am, with an electric fence, AND the neighbor saw a giant bird fly out of the enclosure where the dead chicken was found