Found a dead hen today

[Peggysaurus]

Hello everyone,

A few days ago I found a dead hen in my yard (all of my chickens are free-range). My family and I went away to visit my Aunt, so the hens were left unattended for one night. It was dark when we came home (7:20 ET), and I only saw 6 chickens in the henhouse (we had 7 in total). I looked around the yard, and I found the hen on a log pile under my porch. Her neck looked as if it was broken, and she was sitting in a pile of feathers. She was cold but still soft (died recently). Fortunately, the hen wasn't torn to shreds. Her leg was cut open (like the predator grabbed her by the leg). I looked around the kill site and it seems as if she was dragged (feathers in a trail on the ground leading to the woodpile under the porch). It also looks like the predator shook her in its mouth. All the other chickens are safe in the coop. We heard dog or coyote sounds in the background (one of them might be the culprit) I took a few photos of the dead chicken (BLOOD AND GORE: PLEASE SKIP IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE) We never had any problems with predators in the past, so any feedback on what it might be will definitely help us prevent it from happening next time.

Thank you, everyone

 

[hayley3]

To prevent it from happening in the future, never leave your chickens out overnight.
Since you said free range, I assume you didn't lock them up. So if I'm incorrect, please say.
Predators know when humans are not home. I was late coming home from work, my daughter had went to college, and my whole flock was massacred during the day by a fox.

 

[Geena]

I doubt your predator was dogs or coyotes, or even a fox. They all generally carry, not drag, their prey, and would be unlikely to take it under the porch.

 

[MissMonty]

I am very sorry this happened. I will say from experience. I use to free range my chickens 24/7. They could get into the barns at night to roost with our other animals but they were never actually confined. We stayed this way for almost a year probably. One day we came home to find 2 chickens missing, feathers everywhere and a single foot. Ours was racoons, not sure yours.

After this, every few days they'd pick off a few more chickens. We kept trying to find the culprit but once they knew were the chickens were it never stopped. Now I have to keep my girls locked up each night to keep them safe.

 

[parvani]

I'm very sorry you lost your pretty hen.

Sounds like the kind of attacks we saw last September. Heads bitten off, one hen ripped to pieces, another with her gizzard removed, found it half eaten twenty feet away. Feathers everywhere, trails of them along the ground.

We were sure it was something big, a coyote, dog, or raccoon.

Nope. It was a tiny little weasel did all that damage. And it didn't care if we were home or not.

Hardware cloth is the only defense against weasels. Bury the edge of it if your coop isn't on a concrete pad. Make sure the top of the run is also covered, because weasels can climb.

You can try to trap the weasel, but where there is one, there are likely more. A secure coop will stop night attacks.

Unfortunately, weasels are not entirely nocturnal. I have yet to find a good answer for protecting my birds from weasels outside of their run during the day.

 

[Peggysaurus]

To prevent it from happening in the future, never leave your chickens out overnight.
Since you said free range, I assume you didn't lock them up. So if I'm incorrect, please say.
Predators know when humans are not home. I was late coming home from work, my daughter had went to college, and my whole flock was massacred during the day by a fox.

No, we didn't lock them up that night. They usually go in on their own and don't need extra encouragement to go in. The dead chicken was a little ways from the coop. I'm guessing it happened at dusk when they were heading back to the coop because they usually dust bathe under the porch towards the afternoon.

 

[Peggysaurus]

I doubt your predator was dogs or coyotes, or even a fox. They all generally carry, not drag, their prey, and would be unlikely to take it under the porch.

You make a good point. Could it have been a bird then? Maybe an owl?

 

[Peggysaurus]

I am very sorry this happened. I will say from experience. I use to free range my chickens 24/7. They could get into the barns at night to roost with our other animals but they were never actually confined. We stayed this way for almost a year probably. One day we came home to find 2 chickens missing, feathers everywhere and a single foot. Ours was racoons, not sure yours.

After this, every few days they'd pick off a few more chickens. We kept trying to find the culprit but once they knew were the chickens were it never stopped. Now I have to keep my girls locked up each night to keep them safe.

I'm so sorry that happened to you. We've been taking more precautions when locking up our girls at night and we're watching them closely in the day when we're home. We're currently looking to upgrade our coop and maybe get a motion light sensor to put around the coop.

 

[Peggysaurus]

I'm very sorry you lost your pretty hen.

Sounds like the kind of attacks we saw last September. Heads bitten off, one hen ripped to pieces, another with her gizzard removed, found it half eaten twenty feet away. Feathers everywhere, trails of them along the ground.

We were sure it was something big, a coyote, dog, or raccoon.

Nope. It was a tiny little weasel did all that damage. And it didn't care if we were home or not.

Hardware cloth is the only defense against weasels. Bury the edge of it if your coop isn't on a concrete pad. Make sure the top of the run is also covered, because weasels can climb.

You can try to trap the weasel, but where there is one, there are likely more. A secure coop will stop night attacks.

Unfortunately, weasels are not entirely nocturnal. I have yet to find a good answer for protecting my birds from weasels outside of their run during the day.

It might be, but I don't think weasels inhabit the eastern side of Virginia. We will definitely keep a watch out though and get some cloth just in case.

 

[Geena]

You make a good point. Could it have been a bird then? Maybe an owl?

In my experience owls and hawks pluck out a lot of feathers and start eating at the neck and breast area.
I don't know what would just chew on the thigh like that, maybe a skunk or opossum? I'm not familiar with those kind of kills. Hopefully someone else more experienced will be along to help you with that.