Mystery Killer

[hossluver]

So yesterday morning I let my chickens out (they are 3 months old, were 7 hens and one roo) and for the majority of the morning they were fine, save my dog herding them back into the coop one time. But he's an aussie/border collie so I can't exactly blame him. However, in my rush to get to work, I forgot to lock them back up. So they were left outside with my dog alone for about 40 minutes before my mom came home.

When she did, my dog did not come out to greet her (which is his usual routine every time somebody comes home) and only appeared after she called a great deal, scurrying out of the bushes quite a ways form the coop, and it was at that point when my roo started crowing as well with the other pullets. Some distance away from them, and quite a ways from my dog she found the scene of the crime.

One of my chickens had been torn apart, with only the shoulders and a bit of the tail still left, and a large pile of feathers. My dog was blamed at first, but then he's caught rabbits, chased cats, and even brought a pullet from our last batch of chickens to my mom, all completely unharmed. So while he has gotten a bit hungrier in his old age, the worst thing he's ever done is pluck out feathers, so I'm convinced it wasn't him. The potential list of predators is my neighbors dog (a Rottweiler), an eagle, hawk, coyote, or a raccoon, because we really don't have any other large predators that could have done this. Also, my dog is usually the big boy on the block, having chased away eagles before and he seemed legitimately scared...

Any thoughts as to what this might be? The only reason I don't think it's my neighbor's dog is because she's quite friendly with mine so he wouldn't have been hiding in the bushes.

 

[sourland]

I'm very sorry for your loss. I am not certain that your dog was not responsible. By aggressively herding/playing he may inadvertently have killed your bird. It is never a good idea to leave even the best dog with birds unattended. Be on guard for the return of a possible predator, but keep a close eye on your dog and do not leave him with the birds unsupervised.

 

[hossluver]

Yeah, it was definitely an accident that we left him alone with them, although it has happened before without anything bad happened, but we haven't left him alone with them since. And will do....

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

Where were the loose feathers some where other than at the found bird's site that would indicate the scene of the kill? Did you look for foot prints that were different from both dogs? A coyote foot print is different from a dog foot print.

Dogs, even those who are normally fine around birds, will kill on occasion.
My wife had a half wolf that for several years was great with her many different birds, until the one day he got into the aviary and killed everything, peacocks, chickens, ducks, geese, pheasants, quail, and many others, the only birds he didn't kill that day were the emus, which would have easily killed him. It was a mess and slaughter at the same time.

Did you bring a chicken close to your dog to see his reaction? sometimes that tells a far different story than what you want to believe.
I would check the track evidence before making any judgment about who or what did the kill.

 

[hossluver]

The feathers were all in the area of the kill, about a four foot radius and I did find what appeared to be a large dog pawprint near the scene of the crime that did not belong to mine - he's a border collie/aussi mix. However I'm not certain if that was from the actual incident, as I'm not usually looking for anything in that area.

My dog mostly likes to stare at the chickens, and up until the kill I have been having him put the chickens away (under supervision) for me after I let them hang around in our garden for a few hours ago, or if a couple of them slipped out while I was going in or out of the coop. He's actually quite respectful, better than he used to be with my old chickens, and will just nose their tail if they aren't going anywhere. As far as I know, this behavior hasn't changed, my mom had him outside with the chickens out after the incident and the worst thing he did was herd them back into the coop.

 

[sourland]

Your description of the kill site sounds very much like a raptor kill.

 

[Olive Patch]

Agreed. I have lost two chickens to red tail Hawks, & the scenes looked very similar to what you described, after chasing the Hawks off.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

A raptor could have done it but the OP's description of her dogs actions (or lack of actions) leads to me thinking it was something other than a raptor. A four foot radius of feathers is pretty dang large for a raptor kill too. The large print really tells nothing if only one was found, if it had been a Coyote I would expect to see several prints in a small area, they move around while feeding and so leave more than a solitary print. With out knowing where the OP lives, it is hard to know or make an educated guess as to what attacked and scared the dog enough for it to not come in its usual pattern of greeting.