Canine or Raptor?

[BabesDucks]

I'm so sorry for your loss!

I would think canine would eat everything. Would a duck be too big for an owl?

Raccoons are pretty nasty predators. I had one catch one of my hens in the barn and take her up into the hay loft.

Sorry, I'm not much help.

Thank you. I was wondering about whether or no a canine would eat the organs. I don’t know.

 

[cmom]

Thanks. It was a short trail. What does the crime scene look like after a fox kill??

 

[cmom]

I tend to think fox.

 

[BabesDucks]

View attachment 2905392View attachment 2905393View attachment 2905400

I didn’t have near that many feathers. Did you have some clumps of feathers stuck to skin? Also, are those organs or blood?

 

[BabesDucks]

I tend to think fox.

I’m leaning toward that as well based on the condition of the feathers. I did find ONE long feather with a sort of “Z” in it as if plucked by an owl.
why do you think fox?

 

[cmom]

In my experiences owls don't pluck the birds but take the heads. I have had birds killed by owls and the whole bodies are there except the heads. A fox may leave a good pile of feathers or very little. Here lately I have been seeing fox. I know there has been a female and not long ago a couple of her kits showed up on my cameras. Good luck...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hawk-attack-prevention-ideas.1495695/post-24962418

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

If it was a owl (like others have said) it would most likely just take the head , and some of the entrails. So a fox or coyote, are my bet, but since your neighbor said that they just saw one then it is probably fox.

 

[Isadora]

I would lean towards Fox, but it does seem odd that they would have left organs. Normally a fox will just pick up the whole bird and trot off with it.

 

[McChooky]

Because of the absence of a body I would normally suspect a fox but they don't eat on site.They will "trot off" with them as Asadora stated! Whatever it was carried it a short distance away or you would have found it. Furthermore it scared the goose so badly it won't return which means it witnessed the attack and escaped .Because you've not seen a fox but did see an Owl swoop down recently I tend to believe it returned and killed your chicken sorry. If the owl partially ate it before carrying it off that would explain how the entrails fell out and got left. A Great White Horned Owl like other raptors plucks feathers to eat a bird.If it eats the head only it'll swallow it whole. Eating part of it makes it made it easier to carry off to eat where it was safe.The fact that the feathers were wet may be because the chicken was disemboweled and partially eaten. The Great White Horned Owl is called the Tiger of the SKY for a good reason.They have 200-500 lbs pressure in their talons. They have the highest wing loading of any raptor in the states and can carry a 5 lb chicken.

 

[BabesDucks]

I had an EE fly into a dog pen once and the only thing left was the breast bone. I didn't exactly look around the yard after I got what was left of her away but I didn't see any organs in that area, just feathers.

What is an EE?