Hello all. What is killing my chickens?

[KatDawson]

Hi all. I am Kat Dawson. I am from Magnolia Texas. I am a diagnostic medical sonographer, working at a local hospital. I started this chicken flock in 2013 with a kit coop from Tractor Supply Store and mail order chicks in a dog create in my sewing room. My husband set the posts for my yard and house around my kit coop and we stretched the wire together. Together we hung the ceiling joists and I attached the roofing slats before he screwed on the metal roof. I finished it out while he was out of town. I built a coop in the corner of the fence and moved those birds into a real chicken house soon enough. The kit coop has come to be known as the guest house. Since that time I have built two chicken coops, a tractor, added a duck house that is being used as a rabbit barn, built some rabbit cage stands and a hutch and turned my dog run into a duck and rooster run with miniature pigs. How is that for chicken math? I have added my moms rooster and two hens to a large enclosure and chickens started popping up dead. I think her rooster is killing my chickens. All alpha female chickens. There are three roosters in there getting on fine. But no bird goes in the coop during the day when the new roo remains there. The victims have meatless, bloody cervical spine and scull with displaced beak attached to a fully feathered body, found up against a wall or fence as if cornered. Two were found in the house and one in the yard. has to be killed from inside for from a predator that came over the fence. Not sure if it was day or night. The pop door is automatic. No parts missing except the meat and feathers from the head and neck. Feathers every where. Found a fourth dead bird but it was hidden and somewhat processed so no clues remain. The business started within a few days of introducing the new birds at night. What predator leaves this type of carcass? Roosters?

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC!
We are glad you joined our flock!
I am sorry for your loss. Any hungry predator can do that, I would look for raccoon foot prints.
This video will help you learn how to navigate this site:

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eta....once the bird is dead it is very common for it's flock mates to eat what they can on the dead bird so you may be seeing some of this, the birds eating each other.

 

[BYC910]

Sorry for your lose .A hungry coon would eat the whole bird .Even come back the next night for more . If the run isn't covered could be any flying or climbing predator .If the rooster is suspect lock it up . Chickens most of the time kill other chickens from the rear . Not always but most of the time . they draw blood and keep going . Some breeds are worse than others about doing it too.

 

[hayley3]

Raccoons normally eat the head and neck area, from my experience, and leave the rest of the body. Did you see any opening that a predator may have entered?

 

[centrarchid]

I need to see picture of carcasses. Some details I need missing. Raccoon not likely to be consistently eating only certain parts. A specialized predator with limited gut capacity more likely to be your foe. Since predator very size selective, first guess is an owl.

 

[BirdGirl2004]

Hi all. I am Kat Dawson. I am from Magnolia Texas. I am a diagnostic medical sonographer, working at a local hospital. I started this chicken flock in 2013 with a kit coop from Tractor Supply Store and mail order chicks in a dog create in my sewing room. My husband set the posts for my yard and house around my kit coop and we stretched the wire together. Together we hung the ceiling joists and I attached the roofing slats before he screwed on the metal roof. I finished it out while he was out of town. I built a coop in the corner of the fence and moved those birds into a real chicken house soon enough. The kit coop has come to be known as the guest house. Since that time I have built two chicken coops, a tractor, added a duck house that is being used as a rabbit barn, built some rabbit cage stands and a hutch and turned my dog run into a duck and rooster run with miniature pigs. How is that for chicken math? I have added my moms rooster and two hens to a large enclosure and chickens started popping up dead. I think her rooster is killing my chickens. All alpha female chickens. There are three roosters in there getting on fine. But no bird goes in the coop during the day when the new roo remains there. The victims have meatless, bloody cervical spine and scull with displaced beak attached to a fully feathered body, found up against a wall or fence as if cornered. Two were found in the house and one in the yard. has to be killed from inside for from a predator that came over the fence. Not sure if it was day or night. The pop door is automatic. No parts missing except the meat and feathers from the head and neck. Feathers every where. Found a fourth dead bird but it was hidden and somewhat processed so no clues remain. The business started within a few days of introducing the new birds at night. What predator leaves this type of carcass? Roosters?

First and foremost...! I hope that you enjoy this site as much as the rest of us do! I have learned SOOO much from this sites and hope that you do too! Secondly, I hope that your section post on BYC isn't so gruesome!!
Good luck!

 

[ChickenyChickeny]

sorry for your loss hope you catch this predator!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC. I hope the above advice is helpful to you.

Good luck
Pork Pie

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I must second centrachid's post and suspect that the vermin killing your birds is either an owl or quite possibly some other raptor or bird of prey.

 

[OlePainless]

Ours was a hawk.
Found dead chickens occasionally with a neck that resembled an eaten ear of corn.

We witnessed this once.


Raccoons normally leave a mess of feathers and a destroyed corpse. (from our experience)