Feathers Everywhere - Mystery predator

[SarahGfa]

That's a whole lot of feathers to get snatched out at once. I would not expect a rooster of doing that much. Maybe an aggressive goose?

I don't have any geese or dogs. Neighbors have dogs that sometimes get loose but they have not got into the yard (that I know of) since I put up electric fence.

 

[SarahGfa]

Do any of your birds have wounds or blood?

No wounds or blood. Only feathers. Can turkeys pull each others feathers out like that?

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

and young roosters trying to mate...

Do you have multiple cockerels? Not unusual for hormone-driven cockerels to grab hold of a pullet/hen's feathers because she refuses to submit and tries to flee. The female escapes while the cockerel remains behind spitting out feathers. It's often worse when there are Multiple cockerels being influenced by other's testosterone.

 

[ColtHandorf]

No wounds or blood. Only feathers. Can turkeys pull each others feathers out like that?

Possibly? How many and what sex do you have? I could see young Jakes fighting and doing that to one another. As far as the chicken feathers, I had a tom that insisted on breeding chicken hens. The aftermath often looked like that.

Do you have multiple cockerels? Not unusual for hormone-driven cockerels to grab hold of a pullet/hen's feathers because she refuses to submit and tries to flee. The female escapes while the cockerel remains behind spitting out feathers. It's often worse when there are Multiple cockerels being influenced by other's testosterone.

I don't see cockerels ripping out that many wing/tail feathers on a turkey.

 

[McChooky]

No wounds or blood. Only feathers. Can turkeys pull each others feathers out like that?

The only way you'd notice some injuries is by picking them all up one by one and inspecting them .I don't see how anything losing this many feathers wasn't injured.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

It looks like a dog was playing with them IMO.

 

[McChooky]

My 2 cents is if you're going to free range your livestock you need to check the footage faithfully or they're useless .

 

[SarahGfa]

Possibly? How many and what sex do you have? I could see young Jakes fighting and doing that to one another. As far as the chicken feathers, I had a tom that insisted on breeding chicken hens. The aftermath often looked like that.

I don't see cockerels ripping out that many wing/tail feathers on a turkey.

1 rooster, 1 cockerel, 5 jakes... wayyy too many boys I have not seen the jakes bothering the chicken hens, but they fight each other all the time so I would not put it past them.

It looks like a dog was playing with them IMO.

OK this is helpful... I had not thought about dogs but that makes more sense than a bobcat/hawk who keeps getting outsmarted by chickens... neighbors dogs run loose all the time and maybe they found a way in. also makes sense that I have not seen anything on my game cams, since I only turn the cameras on at night.

My 2 cents is if you're going to free range your livestock you need to check the footage faithfully or they're useless .

OK I will throw the cameras away then.

 

[SarahGfa]

The only way you'd notice some injuries is by picking them all up one by one and inspecting them .I don't see how anything losing this many feathers wasn't injured.

I have a mixed flock so I can tell by feather colors who lost the feathers. It is wierd but I could not see any injuries.

 

[RubelliteRose]

It could be a Coopers Hawk. We had one that made several failed attempts on my and my neighbors birds. We had one near miss that left a pile of feathers like your first picture, but no injury to my hen.