CSI - Identify the Attacker! (Graphic pictures)

[CknoftheSeaford]

MY CHICKENS ARE UNDER ATTACK!!

I lost 2 chickens yesterday around noon to a predator while they were free-ranging in the backyard. I can't figure out what did it. The fence is fine and the chickens were still there - whatever did it didn't take them.

The only wounds were on their back near their tail feathers. They weren't really eaten very much. One even survived for a few hours (I wish I had been there to put her our of her misery, but unfortunately I was out of town).

I think it might have been a hawk, but I have never known a hawk to kill multiple chickens at the same time. Anyone know, I need to be able to protect my other girls!

 

[CknoftheSeaford]

More info ...

The white one is an Easter Egger and very small. I would think she only weighs about 3 lbs tops. Just about anything could have carried her off. The other is a Marans and is a little bigger so I wouldn't have been surprised if something couldn't carry her since she is probably 5-6 lbs. Her wounds were deeper, all the way to the bone for about 3 inches on her back just before her tail. Yet she is the one who survived for a while. The EE was dead in the middle of the yard. The picture looks far worse than it actually was. I think that is because she had been laying in the yard for about 10 hours before I could get home and take the picture. She is missing most of the skin on her back but not too much damage below that. Whatever did this didn't eat much of her at all. Just like the other I couldn't find any damage anywhere else on her body.

I would be totally convinced that it was a hawk or eagle if it had only been one chicken and more had been eaten or if it was just gone. The chickens I had when I was young occassionally got attacked by hawks, but it was always one at a time. The only thing I can think of is maybe the first one escaped to the coop and the hawk wasn't willing to go in there and the rooster or the little dog frightened the hawk or eagle off from the second chicken in the yard. I think anything else (fox, raccoon, dog, cat) would have chased it and cornered it by the fence or a bush or in the coop. I don't think it would have been in the open in the yard like that if it had been anything but a bird. I am very confused as to why it didn't eat more though.

I don't think it was a dog, b/c my little dachshund looking mix was in the yard with them and he would have been out if some dog had gotten in. Also the remaining feathers further from the wounds were completely fine, no sticking together from saliva or anything like that. My dog also definitly didn't do it. He was freaking out and scared so bad when my mother-in-law got home she could hear him crying at the door before she even pulled in the driveway. Thank God it wasn't him the creature got!! She would have totally lost her mind! It was bad enough that 2 chickens died on her watch.

He was really sweet though, he ran in when she got to the back door and then immediately ran back outside and when he got to the steps he was whining and looking back like he wanted her to follow him. She went out because he has never acted like that before. He ran down the steps and to the edge of the patio and looked back again and whined. When she continued to follow him he ran to the coop where the hurt - but alive - chicken was and stood next to her and whined like he was saying "Grandma she needs you." (How increadibly sweet is that!)

She called my brother in law crying and made him come over. She told him that she thought something had gotten all the chickens (because the others were hiding) and that one was dead. He said what do you want me to do - I'm not Jesus. So he came over and they called me and I said I wanted them to leave it there so I could try to figure out what had happened. He covered it w a bag so nothing could get to it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the pictures until very late last night so the quality isn't that great and they were out in the heat all day.

The one that lived for a while looked far worse than the one that died quickly. I wish I had been there so I could have put her out of her misery. I hate to think about her laying there and suffering because they didn't have the stomach to do what needed to be done.

 

[Nslangton]

Hawks killed three of my neighbors last month. Only took one with them. Left her huge rooster and one of the austrolops in the pen with wounds on their backs. All were killed within a few minutes. Sorry for you, it must be a heartbreaking sight.

 

[zazouse]

Sorry for you loss

I say ya got a hawk preying on your bird.
Question, were those feathers on the EE wet from rain or dew? cause if not then my guess would be wrong

 

[CknoftheSeaford]

I think I know the culprit.

I was picking vegetables this weekend and saw a small hawk grab a purple martin above my house in mid-air. The poor thing was screaming and flapping its wings as the hawk took it across my yard and into the tree on the other side of the water.

This hawk was definitely to small to carry away one of my chickens.

And to answer zazouse's question about the wetness on the feathers, the EE was covered with a bag during the day until I could get home, so I assumed the moisture was from the moisture trapped by the bag. The one in the coop's feathers were pristine.

There were tons of feathers all around the tree near where she was caught, which I wouldn't normally expect with a hawk, but I suppose she was able to put up more of a fight since the hawk is so small?

 

[canesisters]

Possibly a very young hawk who hasn't quite figured out what to do with larger prey????