Dead Guinea... What would do this????

[Chicken Junkies]

Something just killed one of my Guinea hens. She was going broody. Only ate her head and opened up her back and ate innards and eggs. :0( Happened in broad daylight this afternoon. Saw her at 3pm. %^&* Any ideas what would do this. Gonna take my little JRT out and let her track it down tomorrow, but like to know what might have done this. We went to get feed and when we came back, noticed we were short a Guinea and the rest were crazy. Went looking and found the remains. She put up one heck of a fight... feathers EVERYWHERE! Please let me know if you have any ideas what I might be looking for.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Coon

 

[wilded]

Possibly a hawk or owl.

 

[Chicken Junkies]

This Guinea was out in our pasture free ranging. Under a bunch of trees. Hard for a hawk to get her, lots of cover and other Guineas around. Aren't coons nocturnal. And it was so selective about what it ate. And it was daytime. Just really strange. Any more ideas?

 

[Cass]

Coons love eggs. Even though it was daytime, if the birds were close to where the coons were sleeping, the might wake up.

 

[CluckyJay]

Especially if she was sleeping under a den tree. Check the surrounding trees for holes.

 

[Chicken Junkies]

Found this...

Hawks and owls kill in similar ways. If you find a dead bird it will have the head and neck eaten and will have deep almost surgical looking cuts on the breast from sharp talons.

How do I know if it is an owl or a hawk? Good question. Raptor birds often defecate when they make a kill. Most hawks will leave a sweep of whitewash that you will see making its way away from the feather pile of the kill. An Owls defecation will also be a whitewash, but it will be in small heaps and clumpier...

No cuts though. No whitewash poo. Back was opened up and insides eaten. No skunk smell and wide open place under trees. How the heck did it catch a Guinea in broad daylight. The others had to really raise heck. We were gone of our dogs would have alerted us.

 

[Wisher1000]

Sounds like a coon to me...