Dead chicken

[True Patriot]

No chicken inside - only thing I can see getting in underneath is a snake and would have to flatten it self to get in and lift cage that has five chickens in it

It's not impossible. And not being able to get back out might cause a snake to regurgitate it's meal. Looks like you may be looking for a decent size snake. If you think it got under you may want to bury a hardware cloth skirt around the cage to prevent future visits.

 

[kathef64]

Chicken was not eaten… See picture above but maybe what you’re talking about I don’t understand… No regurgitation no sign of struggle anyway what difference does it make the chicken is gone and I will move the chickens in with the big ones tonight and hope for the best. They are 9 to 10 weeks old

 

[April’s Zoo]

It does matter, because you asked what it could’ve been...
I know it’s frustrating when you think you’ve made a safe space, and something still manages to get your chickens. Everyone here was just brainstorming with you to help you prevent another death. I’m sure that no one meant to upset you.

Let’s start over.... the picture definitely helps, but can you clarify if the chicken body was found inside the enclosure, or outside? I think Patriot took your statement of “no chicken inside” to mean “no, [the] chicken [was] inside”. I know that I read it that way. Is that what you meant?

What Patriot was suggesting was that if a snake got in the enclosure, it would’ve found itself trapped by a bulge in its gullet after swallowing the chicken whole. After feeding, a snake gets slow and vulnerable, and if the other chickens were flapping around, freaking out about it being there, it would’ve felt threatened.... since it couldn’t escape with the chicken still inside, it would have regurgitated the bird, whole, so that it could get away. The bird would’ve looked just like what you showed, since snakes don’t chew or rip anything when they eat it.

A possible solution that would allow you to keep the youngsters in their own space would be to install 1/4 inch wire mesh on the bottom and sides of the cage. I’m not sure what kind of netting you were using, but if it could be pushed aside even slightly, there may have been a gap large enough for a snake to get in. You can still leave the netting on most of the cage, but overlap a few inches of the wire mesh over top of the netting, that way it can’t be moved to create a gap.

Of course, this same strategy will help deter any other predators as well.

I’m sorry for your loss. Good luck going forward.

 

[Zinjifrah]

If a snake swallowed the chicken, then regurgitated it, the bird would be covered in digestive fluids. When a snake regurgitates, it generally expels not only what's in its stomach, but also all of its digestive fluids and enzymes at the same time. Doing so can kill the snake, since it can't digest anything until those enzymes rebuild - at least a couple weeks. During that time, they'll continue to try to eat, but be unable to digest their food and regurgitate again.

However, where I was going there before I got distracted - if it was a snake who swallowed it and then regurgitated it, the bird would be covered in slime from the digestive fluids. From the photo, that's clearly not the case, other than the head being damaged... and from the look of it, the skin's peeled off the head. That doesn't fit with damage from a snake.

 

[kathef64]

I'm posting again here because not sure if reply to above through email works that way - as you can see from picture, I got the snake.
Thank you to everyone who tried to help.
Clearly my chicks were not as safe as I thought.
Yesterday I tacked hardware cloth to top of coop but snake still got in.
I did not know this until I opened back doors and it was caught in netting that
I had put in there to separate chicks from bigger birds.
So....have to still figure out how snakes can get in. :-(