Do Armadillos kill poultry or eat poultry eggs?

[junebuggena]

Well, I am so devastated. I found a dead chicken this morning. I checked on them last night around 8:30 pm and they were on the roost asleep. When I got out there this morning she was laying on the ground and half of her poor little body was pulled through the fence and eaten. I am just heartbroken! I did notice that an armadillo had torn our yard all to pieces this morning as well. However, I don't think it was the Armadillo because they don't normally bother chickens but it does seem odd that both of these things happened on the same night. I told my husband that obviously, my babies need to be better protected than they already are but we can't do anything until we get home tonight. I am so afraid that something might happen to another one before I get back home to work on securing them better.

Bird pulled through fencing is very typical of raccoons.

 

[Patinas]

I'm just going to throw this out there that animal experts were convinced that hippos were bad tempered, strict herbivores until 1995 when they first documented eating carrion. Since then, there are many documented sightings of hippos eating meat/carrion and cannibalism and now they say that hippos eat meat more often than animal experts ever suspected since this behavior was first documented.

My point being, that prior to 1995, if you said to a hippo expert that you had seen a hippo eating meat but didn't have the video to prove it, they would have said, "Impossible! They are strict herbivores."

I don't think it is out of the realm of possibility that an armadillo could eat eggs found in a nest as they are a protein rich food source like the bugs/worms they are known to eat. Now, killing a hen/turkey, that would fall more in the realm of "impossible".

Just some food for thought!

 

[Chickassan]

They might eat an egg but I doubt they'd eat a chicken, maybe pick the insects off an already dead one. Got to be kind of cautious with dillos anyway they can harbor leprosy.

 

[GlenRose]

Armadillos do kill chickens and other poultry. They catch them roasting or setting on the ground and suck their insides out through their bottom side. They will look normal but light weight as their insides are gone. There may be some blood are tearing around their bottom. We have had this problem with chickens and guineas it’s always seams to be the hens.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Armadillos do kill chickens and other poultry. They catch them roasting or setting on the ground and suck their insides out through their bottom side. They will look normal but light weight as their insides are gone. There may be some blood are tearing around their bottom. We have had this problem with chickens and guineas it’s always seams to be the hens.

how is that even possible?! They don't have front teeth!

 

[DuckingLost]

I saw some dead on the highway coming through Louisville. I didn't know Kentucky had them either.

 

[RWise]

They are here too, my mushrooms are in danger, never had any problems with the birds. They do come in their own pot to cook them in,,,

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I saw some dead on the highway coming through Louisville. I didn't know Kentucky had them either.

They're actually spreading north... here's their range as of the 90s and in light green the predicted range... So if you've seen them in Kentucky, which is 'future range' in this pic, then you can see they've come far in the last 15 years.

 

[AUTZ]

Armadillos do kill chickens and other poultry. They catch them roasting or setting on the ground and suck their insides out through their bottom side. They will look normal but light weight as their insides are gone. There may be some blood are tearing around their bottom. We have had this problem with chickens and guineas it’s always seams to be the hens.

We had opposums that did that. Had to trap them and take them off far away. The also tear off heads and take out entrails that way as well. .

 

[Frazzemrat1]

I could see an opossum doing that, but armadillos aren’t capable of doing that.