Chickens killed with only heads eat

[chickengeorgeto]

what kind of animal bites the head off and leaves the body..... [?]

Had 2 dead in the pen last week and this morning 3 in the house dead, I left the dogs run at night and it still came back.
any ideal what kind of animal does it.

Predators often begin snacking on the heads of chickens. The head is just hanging out there on the end of a chickens neck, so it is as good a place to start eating as any other. I've noticed that cats, shrews, etc also dine from the head down. Some scientist think that the high quality fat and protein found in brain tissue is partly responsible for this dining preference. However chickens are bird brained and thus have itty bitty, small, tiny, pigmy, pea sized, brains. Since I have never been reincarnated as either a hawk, mink, coon, fox, owl, or any of the other chicken killing vermin, I must leave it up to the predators to know why.

 

[Drewman]

I vote for raccoon or weasel.
My run was chain link with berry netting over the top and it had no tears - but I found a hen minus the head - and she was not near the edge but in the middle of the run.
Either she got their on her own minus her head - like the videos of chicken processing on internet - or a weasel killed her in the middle of the pen and left crawling under the coop.

I am thinking weasels too. We caught one in the act, and it was a bloody scene without heads. They can definitely squeeze under a coop. Do they dig?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I am thinking weasels too. We caught one in the act, and it was a bloody scene without heads. They can definitely squeeze under a coop. Do they dig?

As you can see from this photo the head and neck of a bird is a good place for a weasel to attack.

I am unsure but I think that this pix is from Europe. But it is supposed to be genuine.

 

[Lutz Farms]

I have bragged to my gf who is always having predator issues and now my coop has been hit and hard. Four adult layers and two juvenile roosters completely gone without a trace. My large rooster only had his head and crop ever so perfectly removed, obvious feathers scattered everywhere and one other adult hen mutilated ......half breast gone, head gone, guts half gone. My adult tom turkey, two hens and some random of the coop were out that following morning..how is still a mystery. Door firmly locked and the only sign is deep scratches above the window which was open and had a three inch gap between the protective fencing. I'm lost and sick all at the same time.

Next night, I waited with red light. Saw eyes coming around horses, who mind you were NOT disturbed by this animal. It shot over to the coop and must have caught wind of me and headed quickly behind me. Soon I heard very loud, five second screams from this animal. My daughter heard the notices from inside the house and both of us, farm raised girls, have never heard this type of sound before. I avidly hunt and am still dumbfounded. Please, what do I do.....I have new young Marans to add to the coop and am terrified to do it now.

 

[chiknducklings]

Go to this link and see if any of the sounds match what you heard. I had a pair of raccoons do this a few years ago. Really sorry about the carnage to your coop. http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Raccoon_Sounds_audio

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

I am glad I found this site. I was looking for answers to this very issue. We had two pullets killed in this very manner the last two nights. It is disturbing. Our sneaky killer slipped in, ate off the pullet's head and then hid her body in the tall grass. We have so many pullets that we didn't notice at first.It was almost as if it knew to hide what it destroyed.

Not only could it be a weasel, but it could be a river otter. We are going to lock up our pullets every night in the hen house and try to fortify our yard with a more predator-proof fence. We thought it was a good one and the chickens have been fine since we turned them out into it at the end of May. Perhaps the vermin here are "slow" in their seek and destroy process.

My grandpa always used the phrase... shoot, shovel and shut up when he talked about eliminating various predators on the farm. We live by that code as well.

The problem is that it is so frustrating to lose ANY farm animal, most of us want revenge! I know I do! I really love my chickens and woe to creature who gets in my way!

Good advise,, your grandfather was a wise man

 

[coxrb13]

The fox is known to do that. Just a few weeks ago a fox got into a pen and kill 10 chickens with their heads off. Luckily I shot the blasted thing the following night.

 

[Tomatoes3]

We lost chicks. It was a hawk that we finally saw on the ground reaching through the bird netting and wire grid of the cage getting just the heads. Didn't know Hawks would do that until we saw it

 

[neiowa]

Lost one chicken head middle of the afternoon yesterday. Nearly grown 6m old chickens have free run of large yard. Their mobile coop about 40 feet from the house. A few feathers at their feeder inside the coop, large batch at spot between the coop and house.; Then the mess with the body. Son saw a red fox running out of the yard an hour later so it gets the blame.

Very surprised this would happen in broad daylight. We shut the hens up in the coop every night which in theory is varmint proof.

Did find that several are now laying as 15 eggs in a "nest" in the weeds a[[rox 10ft from the former coop location. How do you get them to use nesting box?

 

[mamabokbok]

I lost a rooster this way it was awful

he was headless, body left near the fence. I'm not 100% sure, but my friend told me that foxes are well known for beheading chickens and ignoring the body, he has had it happen numerous times and blames the foxes that he sees lurking. I also do know that something had dug underneath my fence to get in to because I found the hole

I blocked that weak spot and it didn't happen again. The only predators/threats where I live (that I'm aware of) in suburban City AUS are prey birds (which dont dig) domestic cats, foxes and possibly the odd snake, I don't think that a rat would get large enough to eat a chicken here

gosh who knows?! Luckily those other predators eat rats and snakes too I suppose, about 7 years ago I swear that I did see one rat run through the yard, once, never again the whole time.. So I reckon that we are very lucky here in AUS not to have so many nasty and notorious predators such as raccoons etc I feel so greatful about that (my house is constantly surrounded by possums, but they are not hunting type they are cute and shy fluffy things that sound like the devil, they definitely would come and pinch my fruit/vegies through

plenty of adorable, safe, native wildlife around here that also suffer the introduced species - cats/foxes. We are not allowed guns obviously so cant stake out and shoot anything, but I plan on getting a fox trap and bating any suspicious attempts to get into my yard next time as that's the best that can be done

) I suppose it could be a number of things biting off their heads over seas, but clearly foxes/cats do and They also seem to just kill for fun rather than food, I continously find dead wild birds in the park, every week

killed and left not even eaten, domestic cats are terrible for it!