It was an Owl...Saw it Happen

[Sunny Side Up]

What animal eats the head first? Because I've found dead chickens with just their heads missing. Sometimes it's because the head was pulled through the fence, but not always.

I too have been suspecting a stray cat as a predator of some 3-week-old chicks. They spend the day in an ark made of wire birdcage sections, and are brought in at night. Two nights ago something carried a chick away completely. Last night there was 1 chick devoured completely except for a few feathers right next to the ark, another one with torn skin on her thigh inside the ark, and a headless chick in the ark and its head, intact, left a few feet away outside the ark.

Is that the M.O. of a cat? Because we saw a new stray cat in the yard in the morning. The ark is right by the back door and the chicks were killed in the early evening, when there were still lights on & activity in the house.

I think our neighborhood, a semi-rural acreage community, is attractive to people in the adjoining gated community for dumping their unwanted cats. Perhaps they think there's enough homes here for someone to adopt these animals, otherwise there's enough wildlife to sustain them. They don't realize that stray cats don't last long around here, I rarely see them more than once, it's really a harsh existence for them here.

 

[Bizzybirdy]

Have dealt with many possums and racoons here. Racoons will tear the head off a chicken and sometimes that is all they take, other times they haul the whole bird off. All that's left is a pile of feathers. Have had them pull heads off through chain link fencing before I built a "fortress" here. Racoons are awful.

Last month one tore up/killed my old long haired pet cat! Went into a dog house after him while he was sleeping and tore his hind leg off and disemboweled him...right next to my front door with the light ON!

I was devastated. Got the racoon the next night coming back for "leftovers"...CAT leftovers!

So if your cat is missing he may be dead also. Hopefully not, but Smokey was the second cat killed by racoons here.

 

[Chicken Dave]

If there are fisher cats in your area it could have been that

 

[annek]

Quote:
When my cats kill wild birds they never eat just the head. I find lots of feathers and that is about it. I know my cats do it because they bring them in the house. My cats ignore my chickens but would have gone after the chicks. They would eat the whole thing or they would eat nothing and just kill the chick. That has been my experience.

 

[allison finch]

Coyotes will actually hunt cats. We lost many barn cats at a farm I trained horses at. Coyotes will go right into urban areas and catch what cats they can to eat.

They are pretty good at coops too.

 

[horsejody]

You might have more than one predator. Another cat is not likely to be the culprit. The cat may have been taken by a coyote or a coon. The chicken could have been taken by just about anything.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Darn...just to clarify, yes, we have a bodiless chicken...

The only thing we found were feathers and the head on the deck. I was "hoping" that someone might have decided to take in the cat as a pet as she is SO sweet. She is definitely an outdoor cat though. She hates being cooped up in the house unless it is freezing cold outside.

I didn't think I'd miss her this much but my dad is REALLY torn up about it.

He hates cats and this is the first cat he's ever liked.

We went ahead and set traps, it's just unlike anything I've ever seen. It had to have been a larger predator such as a raccoon, huge possum, etc. This is why I hate bantams... ARG!

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

We caught a SMALL possum in a trap today. For some reason...I'm doubting it's the culprit.

 

[nnbreeder]

Usually a Possum will come behind another predator to pick over what is left and since they are the only one there they get the blame. Not that they won't take a bird 'cause they will but if they can get their fill of feed or eggs they will leave content.

 

[Matt A NC]

If you can set a leg snare trap. If the disappearence of the cat and the missing chicken is connected I would bet it was a coyote. They are a huge problem just about everywhere.

Matt