Chicken found with head missing

[Kyzmette]

Yeah, owls are freakish like that. I have a friend who found out one was landing, going under the netting, then walking in through their chicken door.

 

[funwithchicks]

The exact same thing just happened to us. We have a small (now 5) hen mixed flock- all young, healthy and laying. I found Our Wyandotte dead in the coop and she's missing her head. Otherwise fully intact, healthy looking and heavy. She wasn't dead long. No sign of even a beak. Just gone.
We have a small backyard with a 6 ft security fence and 2 dogs. She's was in the coop, which is fully enclosed minus the hen door, which is secured to the run, fully enclosed and covered. No sign of a break in. This mornings eggs in tact in the nesting box in front of her I'm very weirded out.

 

[MaryannL]

I could have written the last post. I went out to the coop this morning, all chickens are down and eating, except 1. I look in the place where they sleep and I see a chicken, dead, without it's head. Weird. What made it even stranger was that it was one of the healthiest birds.

 

[Jamski]

Somehow I knew I would come here and find a thread like this. We just had our first mortality, an Americana called Clara. A decent layer, not good, but good-natured. Her head was off, but not missing...laying beside her, right at the base of the ramp, probably ten inches from the nearest fencing. Mind you, the weather has been foul, we can barely get to the coop and it is very muddy inside.

Hate that this has to be one of my first posts here.

 

[Cooper589]

Some people think it is an Owl, while others believe Possum or Raccoon. Who knows for certain?

My solution was to replace the flimsy door to my coop. It was ripped off when I lost our chicken. I now have an automatic door opening at sunrise and setting at sunset. Nothing has bothered the chickens since.

The chickens roost high by flying to reach the highest point. They appear to remember the event and do not want to be at ground level at night.

 

[Sonya9]

The chickens roost high by flying to reach the highest point. They appear to remember the event and do not want to be at ground level at night.

Yes they do remember, and will often avoid the coop if it gets raided. Last year I lost some bantams in two separate snake raids (same snake). The rest of the chickens REFUSED to sleep in that coop for 2 weeks. Every evening I had to carry them one by one into the coop (and I locked the door, securing every crack I could find to keep the snake out).

 

[Violetsfeathers]

When I first put my first batch of chickens outside we left the door open too late and a raccon just walked in, took a chicken, and left. My dad followed a trail of blood and feathers to the woods

 

[Cooper589]

Yes they do remember, and will often avoid the coop if it gets raided. Last year I lost some bantams in two separate snake raids (same snake). The rest of the chickens REFUSED to sleep in that coop for 2 weeks. Every evening I had to carry them one by one into the coop (and I locked the door, securing every crack I could find to keep the snake out).

Snakes. "Why did it have to be snakes?" Indiana Jones.

One thing I have been considering is building a ladder so they can climb to their roost in the rafters but the ladder could also help a varmint get to them. The coop seems to be water tight and I don't see any place for a predator to get in.

So I am going to try a ladder to make their lives easier.

 

[Sonya9]

The exact same thing just happened to us. We have a small (now 5) hen mixed flock- all young, healthy and laying. I found Our Wyandotte dead in the coop and she's missing her head. Otherwise fully intact, healthy looking and heavy. She wasn't dead long. No sign of even a beak. Just gone.
We have a small backyard with a 6 ft security fence and 2 dogs. She's was in the coop, which is fully enclosed minus the hen door, which is secured to the run, fully enclosed and covered. No sign of a break in. This mornings eggs in tact in the nesting box in front of her I'm very weirded out.

Whatever did that must have some very strong, sharp teeth or talons to sheer a head clean off without so much as knocking the body on it's side.

At least it was probably quick and painless for the victim.

 

[Violetsfeathers]

Is there any way to delete a thread?