Help! 3 Hens Dead!

[RayRoe]

I have free-range hens and they're let out at 6 am. One day I went out at about 4 pm, and I found 2 dead hens 30 feet from the coop. They had their entire neck and head ripped off. The rest of their body was perfectly fine, and they looked as if they were laying down. The next day I found 1 about another 30 feet away in the same predicament. I haven't lost any since but I'm still nervous I might lose more. I think it was a hawk or owl but I'm not sure. Please, let me know your best guesses and perhaps help me think of a way to stop it from happening in the future. I really don't want to keep them penned in. All help will be appreciated.

 

[ATeacherChick]

Opossums and Raccoons have been head-rippers in my experience, but that's very unusual during the hours you mentioned...Any time I've had a hawk hit a chicken, there were scattered feathers and deep wounds in the body of the chicken itself from where the hawk landed, typically near the shoulder/upper wing area.

 

[MrsBachbach]

I don't think it is hawks or owls. They aren't head rippers. They start tearing at the body.
I think it's a small four legged predator. I think skunks attack the head also. I had a rooster once whose head was bitten by what I believe a skunk (the smell was in the area the day before). He survived with my help, but it was an early morning coop attack after I opened the doors in the morning. I think my dog must have scared the predator off and it was not able to do more damage, but it went right in my henhouse early in the morning (feathers everywhere). Found the rooster bloodied and battered under a bush later that morning.
I've since learned that predators are early morning hunters in the hour after sunrise or late afternoon in the hour before sunset. Best to wait a couple of hours before opening them up in the morning. Chickens tend to go up to roost about a hour before sunset anyway.

 

[Folly's place]

You will need to keep them in at least for a week or more, because this predator will return until nobody's left alive.
If it is a raptor, confining your flock for ten days or more will discourage the bird, who will move on elsewhere.
If it's a ground predator, how about a game camera? Tracks anywhere?
Live traps are useful, but relocating critters can't be done, so don't trap if you won't shoot!
Also, your predator knows your schedule! Vary the times that you release your flock, and make it much later in the day. Noon? Mid-afternoon? Never the same time, and not early in the morning.
Mary

 

[RayRoe]

Thanks for the info guys, it is helpful. It is hard to believe it was a ground predator though. I forgot to mention, there were no tracks that I could see, plus the area was muddy that day. It makes no sense! Also, there is a problem with locking up my chickens. My coop is a portable, 6 ft x 6 ft, coop with mesh flooring. With 35 chickens, they can't stay in there for probably more than a day.

 

[Folly's place]

This is what can happen when 35 birds are 'cooped' into a space big enough for eight! There will be many time like this; a raptor visit, some other predator visit, two feet of snow, or whatever. There must be adequate space for the flock!!!
Ground predators can be managed with electric fencing, and raptors need at least netting overhead.
Can you rig something up ASAP?
Mary

 

[RayRoe]

I can definitely rig something up, my best bet is that it was a bird of some kind. By the way, the coop is made so the birds are only in it to sleep and lay their eggs. Look up "Justin Rhodes chickshaw" on google and you will know what I am talking about.

 

[MrsBachbach]

I agree with other poster, it's an awful cramped space. No room for shelter from storms, and no where to put them when problems like this arise. I'd work on a much bigger coop! Room improves health, makes for a cleaner environment, less stress and happier birds.

 

[Chelsa'sChicks]

In my experience racoons eat the head and neck and opossums eat the internal organs or more if they are that hungry. Set a trap with bread and peanut butter big enough to fit a small 15 lb dog in and you will catch it and know for sure. Animal control should remove it as a nuisance depending on where you live ...some places you can 'take care of it yourself' if it's listed as a nuisance animal in your state.

 

[happyfrenchman]

Letting them out at 6 am might be part of your issue....