I need Opinions on what animal could have killed our chickens

[olivia_walkin008]

So today out by the coop, one of our new young chickens got decapitated and left in the coop. Maybe all of our other chickens scared the predator off so it wasn’t able to take the corpse with it, but I don’t know. However this also happened last year with one of our other batches of chickens. We had four of them and some animal dragged the three bodies elsewhere ( we never found them) and left one body with the head decapitated in the gated area they are in…. Just wondering if anyone has any advice or opinion on what it could have been!


For more helpful info, our chickens do dig and there are some areas in the fence where there are little dips in the dirt under the fence (like room for a small animal to dig through). These are always being filled in with more dirt to get rid of those gaps but do you maybe also have advice for this too?

 

[Debbie292d]

So sorry for your loss!

I would dig around your fence about a foot to 18" and put 1/2" HWC (hardware cloth) down there attached to the fence and buried. That will stop both the chickens and the predators.

If you don't have HWC fence, I'd consider going around your fence with that too.

I'd look into getting or borrowing a trail cam or outdoor camera so you can find out what goes on at night around there. We've used Blink for eight years and love their range and quality.

 

[bill3607]

So today out by the coop, one of our new young chickens got decapitated and left in the coop. Maybe all of our other chickens scared the predator off so it wasn’t able to take the corpse with it, but I don’t know. However this also happened last year with one of our other batches of chickens. We had four of them and some animal dragged the three bodies elsewhere ( we never found them) and left one body with the head decapitated in the gated area they are in…. Just wondering if anyone has any advice or opinion on what it could have been!


For more helpful info, our chickens do dig and there are some areas in the fence where there are little dips in the dirt under the fence (like room for a small animal to dig through). These are always being filled in with more dirt to get rid of those gaps but do you maybe also have advice for this too?

Raccoons, owls, and hawks are known to tear heads off of chickens. Other predators may do that during a kill as well, but those 3 are usually the culprit when missing a head.

 

[PimsGarden]

Raccoons might be the culprit here

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Was the body next to the fence?

 

[Teeler]

So today out by the coop, one of our new young chickens got decapitated and left in the coop. Maybe all of our other chickens scared the predator off so it wasn’t able to take the corpse with it, but I don’t know. However this also happened last year with one of our other batches of chickens. We had four of them and some animal dragged the three bodies elsewhere ( we never found them) and left one body with the head decapitated in the gated area they are in…. Just wondering if anyone has any advice or opinion on what it could have been!


For more helpful info, our chickens do dig and there are some areas in the fence where there are little dips in the dirt under the fence (like room for a small animal to dig through). These are always being filled in with more dirt to get rid of those gaps but do you maybe also have advice for this too?

Sounds like a fox. They ’overkill’ and return to eat when hungry. They aren't affected by rotting meat and will Simi hide what they've killed. I just lost two chickens in a buzzard attack - the raptors couldn't fly away with the hens and left them to die. Very bloody death, poor things.