How the heck did this happen?!?!

[VanessaTrout]

I had two 3 month old silkies in a dog crate next to our big chicken run. I was waiting to integrate them in the flock until after we processed our Turkeys for Thanksgiving. I checked on them this morning and the crate was still locked and in tact but both chickens were gone and there is blood and feathers on the inside of the cage. A small pile of guts too. What could get them out without getting IN?! Next tot the big coop I found a leg and some wing feathers. The crate has 1 inch by 2 inch metal all the way around.... Any ideas?! We are located in the hills of Southern California. We have cayotes, bobcats, hawks, raccoons etc. It's just a mystery how the chickens were gone and the cage is locked up tight.

 

[Free Feather]

Those holes are fairly big in the eyes of predators. Just going by the hole size, martins and weasels both could have gotten in, same with rats, snakes, minks, and mongoose. And there is definitely more.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I had two 3 month old silkies in a dog crate next to our big chicken run. I was waiting to integrate them in the flock until after we processed our Turkeys for Thanksgiving. I checked on them this morning and the crate was still locked and in tact but both chickens were gone and there is blood and feathers on the inside of the cage. A small pile of guts too. What could get them out without getting IN?! Next tot the big coop I found a leg and some wing feathers. The crate has 1 inch by 2 inch metal all the way around.... Any ideas?! We are located in the hills of Southern California. We have cayotes, bobcats, hawks, raccoons etc. It's just a mystery how the chickens were gone and the cage is locked up tight.

1x2 inch openings are plenty big for most of the common smaller predators - anything over 1/2 x 1/2 inch openings invite the head, body and or paws of these predators - many are able to enter through such an opening and those who are not can reach through, grab the nearest body part and pull it through to be ripped or bitten off the bird.

 

[Free Feather]

Raccoons and Opossums will stick their little mitts in and doing horrid things to birds. I am not sure what would leave only guts, though. It must have been something that could fit its whole body in.