My velociraptors just dismembered a dove! :(

[Nonny]

Went to collect eggs this morning and wondered why there was a huge ant trail in the run, so I followed it and found a dove's head, leg, and a pile of feathers.

We used to get lots of doves in the run looking for food, but this is the first one I've seen in there since I put in the treadle feeder. Usually if one gets stuck in there I just go in and let it out, but this must have happened before I woke up and since the dove couldn't find his way out again my girls thought they'd have a protein packed breakfast this morning.

Suddenly those beady little eyes and sharp beaks seem a tad more sinister this morning... *hums theme to Jaws*

 

[Tracydr]

Man, I had more feed going to doves than chickens for awhile. I'd love if they'd eat doves! We have hundreds of them! My cats eat quite a few during nesting season though, but they only seem to like the heads.

 

[coyotesmommy]

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Uhh what happened to the rest of the dove? Are you sure it was your girls and not another predator? Yikes

 

[Nonny]

I'm pretty sure it wasn't another predator. My cat was sitting outside the run (nose pressed right up to it LOL) looking rather annoyed he couldn't get to the bird. The run was fully intact, no sign of break-ins, and my girls were all acting calm, plus my hubby has been up since dawn and said all he heard all morning was normal birdsong, no sounds of alarm.

The only other visitors we've had in the run has been possums (not the meat-eating Opossums you all are familiar with, just the regular Aussie ones that eat fruit and leaves), and since I sealed the gap between the bird wire and the tree where they were getting in they haven't been back.

 

[m.kitchengirl]

I looked out the kitchen window the other evening.
My cat likes to leave me little "gifts" there. The latest was a headless sparrow. The hens were all gathered around, fighting over who got to eat it.

 

[goldtopper]

Mine ate a squirrel today.
I've been having trouble with the tree rats eating my feed. I staked out the run, waited and drilled one. It was a little bloody and must've got them worked up.

 

[LT]

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I have to share this with my husband. It sounds like a new hobby he would like.

 

[sourland]

Do not faint in the chicken coop.

 

[Nonny]

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[bleith]

I ve noticed on a few occasions that my EE will run after a squirel in our back yard. the squirel scampers away and the EE paces back and forth lokking for it.

One day she just might get it.