Headless Quail ?

[RhodeIslandRed]

I found two qail in the pen with the heads missing. Does anybody have any idea what could get in a pen without any spaces bigger than an inch and just eat the heads off

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Hmm. Does it look like it could have been a racoon pulling the heads through the wire?

-Kim

 

[RhodeIslandRed]

The birds were laying together in the center of a 4x8 pen. They were not laying by the side

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I was going to say the same thing. I had a chicken stick his head through the fence and a dog got him and did just that, took off his head. You may want to put hardwire mesh (1/2 inch) around the bottom, so they can not stick their heads through.

 

[vickig]

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[Wolf-Kim]

They could have moved from the initial kill-point both in their death throes and possibly the other quail pecking/eating the bodies.

I cannot think of anything else that could have happened. Snakes would have consumed the whole thing and not just the head. Rats would normally go for the feet and not just the head.

I think a weasel would need more than an inch to get in. Anyway the idea of a weasel in a 4'X8' pen with a bunch of quail and only eating two, doesn't sound right. Normally a weasel surplus kill everything, especially in a pen that size. I think had something gotten into the pen, more birds would be dead or at least injured.

-Kim

 

[Frosty]

A young rat could fit in a 1" square... is the pen covered? Check the top closely if it is, an owl wil decapitate birds.

 

[vickig]

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[chicken_boy_Kurt]

That same thing happened to me. Only on a larger scale, much larger, like 20 chickens scattered across the field. I think it was a weasel. Couldn't have been a fox (this is for me) cause the mom would have taken the whole thing back to the den and if it was the dad he would have killed that many just for fun. Racoons are too slow. An owl wouldn't ave eaten that many. So I think weasel. For you and me.

 

[kees]

Perhaps a rat or mouse? If their heads can fit through, so can the rest of their body.