Dead with no head!

[RileyB]

I know this forum is for chickens, but since I have 11 chickens and only 3 ducks...okay only 2 now :-(...I thought I'd post it here.

I came home today to find one of my ducks (a 4 week old runner) dead in the coop that the ducks share with the chickens. There was no blood, no mess, etc. Only thing amiss was poor Squirt dead on the ground with no head.
Posters in the duck thread thought it was a predator. But...wouldn't I see other signs (e.g. askew food dish, tipped, water, etc)? And why would a predator attack one of the biggest birds???

 

[sourland]

If not a predator, what else? Guaranteed the chickens and other ducks did not remove the head.

 

[RileyB]

The only thing I'm thinking is what if it was bleeding (say its head got caught in the chicken wire). I know chickens go crazy when there's blood....could they have pecked it enough to have an entire head missing?

Also, the dead duck was about as far away from any opens (chicken wire, door, etc) that it could be in the coop. How could it be over there if a predator had reached in through the wire?

 

[cafarmgirl]

I'm not sure why there's two threads about this but you said on your other thread that there is a 4 inch gap along the top of the fence right? Quite a few predators can fit through a gap that size including but not limited to raccons, weasels, possum, skunk etc. You also mentioned the duck was very dirty, to the point of being almost unrecognizable. So there was indeed a struggle most likely.

Whatever it was got in, killed the duck and ate or left with the head. Small coon, weasel, who knows. I'd be putting hardware wire over those openings in a hurry. Whatever it was will be back.

 

[RileyB]

Sorry about the two threads...someone in the duck forum mentioned the predator forum so I figured I'd try here as well (since this one is in the chicken thread and most of my birds are chickens...the one that died was one of my few ducks)

Thanks so much for the information.