Help. Decapitated chicken

[cdmadaio]

i have (had) a 10 month old polish bantam chicken who got decapitated the other day. She still had her neck and all that was missing was her head. it happened sometime around 30 mins after sunrise and no other chickens were dead. She still had her neck, but there was a slit at the bottom and food was coming out. There was no blood on her and besides the decapitation and neck slit she was perfectly intact. Infact, the neck slit was barely noticeable until food came out of it. The wierd thing is, she was around lots of other chickens, since the door opens at 30 mins past sunrise, and none of them were dead, which leads us to thinking it wasn't a coon. We have some hawks near us, but the head had just been popped off, there was still the muscle or whatever it is that connects the head to the neck. I looked at pics of hawk kills and they look very bloody and looked as if they've been ravaged. I really truly have no idea what this is and I don't want any of my other chickens dying this way

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm guessing weasel or mink. No foot prints?

 

[Folly's place]

A rat can also do this. It could have been a hawk, or weasel, or ???
Turn off the automatic door, and keep them in, at least until you can be out there later in the day.
Is your coop secure enough to keep out rats and other small critters? Look for evidence of something actually in the coop.
I think that this is a major disadvantage of the automatic doors; there's no supervision, and IMO dawn is too early as many predators are still around. Your local wildlife knows exactly when those birds come out every day!
If it's a raptor, the flock should stay in for at least ten days, until that bird gives up and moves on.
A game camera would be a nice addition to your chicken area!
Setting a live trap might be good too.
Mary

 

[Morrigan]

Sounds like something a weasel would do. They can attack any time of day and, if the chickens are out in the yard, may only grab one.

You might bump you automatic door back another 1/2 hour, just to give a bit more margin for safety, although in the case of my weasel attack, it came in the middle of the day. I installed electric fencing around the yard and, after some trial and error to get the heights right (lost another chicken during that process), it's done a good job keeping weasels out. The trick is to have the lowest wire only an inch or two off the ground, with additional strands above it. It's a real pain keeping weeds and debris off the lower wire, but it works.

 

[cdmadaio]

A rat can also do this. It could have been a hawk, or weasel, or ???
Turn off the automatic door, and keep them in, at least until you can be out there later in the day.
Is your coop secure enough to keep out rats and other small critters? Look for evidence of something actually in the coop.
I think that this is a major disadvantage of the automatic doors; there's no supervision, and IMO dawn is too early as many predators are still around. Your local wildlife knows exactly when those birds come out every day!
If it's a raptor, the flock should stay in for at least ten days, until that bird gives up and moves on.
A game camera would be a nice addition to your chicken area!
Setting a live trap might be good too.
Mary

1. I think this is a good idea. The only problem is, it was only the head. ONLY THE HEAD. The neck was still there, perfectly intact. We do have hawks, but there is a tree canopy. I have scared a hawk before afew months ago but haven't seen it. The thing is, there was absolutely no blood, and the body of my bird was perfectly intact. This is going to sound grousing but part of the muscle from the head was still attactched. If we cut part of a picture where her head is, it would look as if she was living. She was quite literally decapitated. Is it possible that she could've died beforehand and then been decapitated by something. There was also a little slit at the bottom of the neck, where her food pouch is, and some food came out of it. Could a crow or chicken have eaten her after death or something?

 

[Folly's place]

Sure. Did you open her up and look? It's not the first thing you want to do, but would be informative. If she died of some internal problem, that lets predators off the hook. This time.
Mary

 

[The Moonshiner]

Twice I was losing birds to a predator that was taken heads off.
Both times it ended up being an owl.

 

[lazy gardener]

I agree with other posters, set your auto door to open an hour or more later than it does now.

 

[pvaldes]

or an Opposum

 

[plmbloco48]

Most likely a winged predator. Have this problem in my area.