*GRAPHIC* What killed my chicken?

[crin54]

I came home today and found my polish from my profile picture killed. It had had it's head feathers pecked before, so I don't know if the others pecked it to death. But I couldn't find it's head. It was inside the fence (Not predator proof) and the other 14 were all in the coop huddled in corners, but it was raining. What could have done this??

 

[rjohns39]

Head missing, most likely a hawk (by day) or Owl (by night). If the doer was a hen, they she may have delivered the head to the nest and returned for a meal. Although, its also possible someone else came along to dine. Likely you scared the latter diner off when arriving home.

 

[centrarchid]

That looks very much like what a hawk does. I suggest leaving the carcass in place for now or store it tonight and put it back out tomorrow morning. That will occupy the hawk until you can figure out a way to deny it access. Show a picture of the run as you might be able to make so predator can not get in.

 

[rjohns39]

BTW, I'm so sorry for your loss... After posting it I realized my post was insensitive. Sorry.

 

[crin54]

Thank you and No worries!

 

[MilesFluffybutt]

I am sorry for your loss, Crin. Could it have been a critter in the weasel family? My neighbors have reported similar attacks (headless, de-feathered) and found the cause was a fisher cat.

 

[centrarchid]

I am insensitive as need to get directly to the point. Where is the picture?

 

[chckndaddy]

My guess is that it was an opossum. It could have been something else but opossums usually don't take the body anywhere and don't eat everything. It also could've been a hawk.

 

[DragginA$$]

I came home today and found my polish from my profile picture killed. It had had it's head feathers pecked before, so I don't know if the others pecked it to death. But I couldn't find it's head. It was inside the fence (Not predator proof) and the other 14 were all in the coop huddled in corners, but it was raining. What could have done this?? View attachment 1130324

OMG! Where do you live? Because the same thing happened to my duck, today! I am so sorry! I feel your pain! I am suspecting a hawk. I have actually gone outside at the right (or wrong time, not sure which is correct here) and scared off a hawk but not before it had killed a guinea. BUT I scared it so it dropped my guinea and the head was missing! I put up aviary netting and the hawks dove right through it on 3 occasions. SO, I strung up fishing line in a web and no missing birds or heads...until this evening when I went out to feed my flock, I noticed that the fishing line was broken in one spot. I have lost 8 guineas, 3 chickens, and now a duck to hawks and foxes (is that right, foxes?). The foxes usually get my girls when they are free ranging. There are usually lots of feathers and if you look closely you can see where the feathers are actually grabbed.

In the beginning, something was trying to dig under the pen (we use dog kennel 6 foot high fence) so we hammered rebar all at 6 inch intervals around the pen and placed wine bottles on each one, then hung aluminum cans to make noise and be shiny. A portion of the pen in covered by a tent/tarp and the hawks have never flown through that (probably because they can't see through it). We just reconfigured the pen to add nice coop so I do not have a good picture. The next stage is to build a roof but with all our other house remodeling projects we have not gotten to it yet. At any rate, I will have to run by Wal-Mart tomorrow and get some more fishing line. I'll post a picture here in the next few days....

Try fishing line though, that normally works, I don't what happened this time, grrrr.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

That looks very much like what a hawk does. I suggest leaving the carcass in place for now or store it tonight and put it back out tomorrow morning. That will occupy the hawk until you can figure out a way to deny it access. Show a picture of the run as you might be able to make so predator can not get in.

I must agree with the chicken sage from NW Missouri. The damage to the Polish chicken is classic hawk feeding behavior. Remember people, hawks don't have big bad jaws and teeth to rip, tear, and crush their victims. Also notice how the neck vertebrae are still present and articulated. The flesh has been ripped from this chicken one muscle group or fiber at a time. The fact that the head is missing only shows where the hawk began it's meal. Also notice how the hawk worked it's way around and around it's victim, leaving a neat (?) halo of lose feathers. Most predatory mammals are not so careful about eating feathers and hair as a hawk is.

A careful study of the scene reveals that the Polish chicken was fleeing from the hawk, and the raptor cornered the chicken in a corner of the fence. This, if nothing else puts the lie to the belief that hawks swoop from the sky like a comet, snatch up and abscond with a chicken meal. Seeing that Polish chickens are smallish you would or maybe the correct word is you "should" expect a hawk to fly away with the whole chicken.