It was an Owl...Saw it Happen

[rodriguezpoultry]

OK...here's a new one for you.

My cat has been missing for 4 days apparently (dad just told me) and we lost a silkie hen either yesterday or today. The body is GONE but the head was found out of the pen all the way at the deck to our now-gone swimming pool.

Any ideas? My cat has NEVER touched a chicken, chick or bantam bird. Not even an egg.

I'm thinking raccoon, my dad is thinking cat. ANY ideas are appreciated!

ETA: The same day my dad found the silkie head on the deck, he ALSO found an uninjured Langshan pullet inside of my Labrador's dog pen. The dog didn't do it...she was sitting in her dog house watching the chicken walk around in her pen. Apparently she's chicken safe...LOL. I am REALLY debating putting her in the chicken pen at night...anyway, whatever got the silkie must have scared the crud out of the Langshan pullet.

 

[Mahonri]

Raccoon.

Set some traps.

 

[Trenary Duck Farm]

So, do you or do you not have a headless chicken?

 

[sred98]

Raccoon would have also gone after the cat if it felt threatened. Cat could either be dead or recuperating on its own. I hope you find it soon.

Shelly

 

[RevaVirginia]

Quote:
The way I read it is.....no, we have a chickenless head


Good luck to OP on problem

 

[Kung Foo Chicken]

A head with no body is what I found when a dog killed my D'uccles. Sadly it also killed the outside cat as well. (No preaching about outside cats as she was here years before I moved in 10 years ago). So, from experience it seems like a large dog.

 

[nnbreeder]

Coyotes will take cats as well as chickens.

 

[TreeHugger]

The first thing a raccoon would have eaten would have been the head of the chicken.

 

[Cara]

Owl.

Raccoons do not eat the head first, they may pull it off when reaching through a fence, but they eat the crop/breast first.

 

[jojo@rolling acres farm]

Great Horned Owl I've had to lock up my barn cats (at night) for 6 years and never let my 5 lbs Schnauzer out of my sight when she is outside. The owls stay out as late as 11 am in the morning . There are three of them that live in our woods/ravine. You almost never see a rabbit or squirrel out this way...they've cleaned them out. I've also seen them looking over my baby goats...when they are born some of them are very tiny. They perch right over the pen...they are totally fearless. A couple of years ago one of them was going in for the kill right above my duck pen. My son was able to scare it off and lock up the ducks. The next day we found a duck head in our barn yard...he took one of my neighbor's Mallards. They can be nasty...