decapitated birds

[moymoy]

Can anyone help...I just found my entire flock decapitated! My dog could not have gotten into the run as no holes were found! Help! The pen does not have a roof. Could it have been a bird?

 

[Arklady]

sounds like a raccoon check for prints... coons can climb in by trees and such.

Arklady

 

[Poison Ivy]

I had a raccoon kill & eat the heads off 4 of mine plus 2 that were just killed and left whole. That was a while ago after that i made sure I had a secure run & coop.

 

[BeckyLa]

Welcome to BYC though I am sorry that your first post is about something so horrible. Yes, it does sound like a coon. Time to batton down the hatches and start fresh. I hope you can trap or kill the nasty critter.

 

[hinkjc]

Weasels are also known to kill them all, just for the fun of it. Definitely check for tracks and maybe set a trap to catch the culprit. So sorry to hear of your losses.

Jody

 

[Picco]

I had a weasel decapitate two of my hens. Luckily we were able to catch the thing. It had falllen through a space in the wall and couldn't escape. Lets just say there is no more weasel!

 

[aran]

is this something we all have to worry about? My coop is fox proof, hawk proof and raccoon proof but i dont know about a weasel...how big a hole would it need to get in? I have never even seen one in rochester ny.

 

[SarahF]

Could it have possibly been an owl? I've been told that owls either take the heads leave the bodies, or the opposite? i know, not much help, but keep owls in mind too.

 

[MTchick]

Owls are always a suspect when it comes to decapitated birds, but having all of them decapitated at once sound much more like a weasel. Typically with an owl you'll find a head, a whole bunch of feathers, and the other chickens are OK. Sometimes you'd find the body naked with no head (the opposite pattern). Owl's don't have the same kill drive that a weasel has- the weasel basically becomes confused by the overabundance of easy prey and kind of freaks out, killing all the chickens because its hunting instincts are very poorly suited to that situation. The owl would grab one and go eat it in peace (usually) and then come back later for one more, etc.

Hope that helps. Sounds like this was a weasel to me- how dreadful for you and your chickens!

-MTchick

 

[nenenick]

Sorry for your loss, my guess would be a racoon. I had a flock of beautiful SQ RIR's that always greeted me. One day I found all dead in one night decapitated and there entrails eaten. Racoons will revisit in 3 day cycles! I took one of my dead birds and baited a live trap, the next day in the morning I seen something moving on the trap. After looking with a scope I watch this racoon climb into the trap from inside hanging from the top and removing the dead bird WITHOUT TRIGGERING THE TRAP!!!
I could not believe what i saw! I then cased it with a stick! Smart ones they are!