Decapitated hen

[cmom]

Do you have a game camera you could put up. I'm sure the predator will be back since it made a kill, then you will know for sure what you're dealing with. Good luck...

 

[dallenk]

Another predator that takes off the head and partially eats the breast meat....a skunk chews thru the neck, eats the head for the brain and then sucks the blood from the wounds. The rest of the body is left behind.
Usually Skunks will take the easier choice of eating eggs, but they are adept at catching young birds.

Wow! I had no idea. Our coop is enclosed with thick wire over the top as well as the sides.I have seen a skunk in the yard lately. I couldn't figure out how a raccoon got through the opening, which has been fixed, but a skunk would have fit easily. Poor hen.

 

[dallenk]

Do you have a game camera you could put up. I'm sure the predator will be back since it made a kill, then you will know for sure what you're dealing with. Good luck...

I don't have a camera. Thank you.

 

[Flaymm]

The New Hampshire Red hen was lying in the middle of the chicken run when I went out this morning to let the flock into the backyard. She was missing her head and part of her breast had been chewed away. The other hens had been out of the coop and in the run for a few hours before I found her, and I couldn't see any evidence that they had cannibalized their sister, nor could I find a detached head anywhere in the coop or the run. I can't imagine what creature could have done this inside our locked and presumed critter-proofed chicken yard. I just hope she was already dead before whatever started gnawing on her.

Ohhh that is so sad. I’ve heard that happens here where I live, it’s been attributed to hawks though. I hope you find a way to keep the rest safe!

 

[cmom]

Hardly a night goes by when I don't see a predator on a game camera. Here they roam at night. A visitor, a coyote

Another visitor, a fox.

 

[aart]

I found an opening into the run.

Where was the opening?
Ground level could have been skunk, but I don't believe they can climb.
Find any hairs?

 

[roosterhavoc]

really racoon usually run off with them I wonder do you have aerial predators ?

99% of the time raccoons kill them and let them lay. They almost never run off with them.

 

[NanaKat]

99% of the time raccoons kill them and let them lay. They almost never run off with them.

And they often kill more than one chicken. I had a boar coon kill all five birds in one breed pen one night. Caught him and eliminated him.