Need help in finding out what is killing my geese and large chickens.

[coolpow]

I have lived here in Hesperia California in my brand new home for 15 years and just in the past 3 years I have lost
13 geese and 9 chickens in the same way, with most of them with there heads chewed off.

Sorry to the ones that can't stand this kind of thing but I'm getting desperate and it kills me to keep seeing this.

I hatched all the eggs to all my geese and chickens, so there like part of the family.

I have stayed up most of the night and heard and found nothing, I see no large tracks and my animals are inside 2 five tall
fences with 3 layers of barb wire along the top spaced 3 inches apart brining the over all fence to 5.4 feet high.

One morning I went out to feed them and found 7 dead geese, see pics.
I live inside the city laments so there are no coyotes around, I just don't get it.

Thanks

Roger

 

[Akrnaf2]

Can you take pictures of the footsteps of the attacker?

 

[Lisaroohoo]

Sorry for the loss of your chickens and geese. Looks to me like the job of a raccoon(s). I have friends that lost their chickens to raccoons and that is what they did, they just ate the heads. They know for fact it was a family of them because of the ruckus in the coop they went to investigate and witnessed the culprits.
Could also be a weasel.

 

[Michael Apple]

Sorry for the loss of your chickens and geese. Looks to me like the job of a raccoon(s). I have friends that lost their chickens to raccoons and that is what they did, they just ate the heads. They know for fact it was a family of them because of the ruckus in the coop they went to investigate and witnessed the culprits.
Could also be a weasel.

I agree. Coolpow, coons are notorious for removing the head, often eating the neck, and leaving the rest. Secure your yard and coop. Set out a large cage trap where the coons has been visiting. Canned cat food or kibble is attractive bait. Start trapping and culling them until they stop visiting.

 

[coolpow]

Thanks for getting back to me and that was one of the things I thought it might be but out of the 6 decapitations not one head was eating. Only the heads of the geese were chewed off and not the chickens,

I though I may have two types of predators running around, one may be a raccoon as you mentioned and the other a horn nose owl. I have big roosters and I found them dead and eaten 500 feet away in an empty lot down the street.

Is there anything else that can lift large chickens and carry them so far away and over 2 five foot tall fences with the outer fence with 3 layers of barb wire. I lost all but 3 of my geese and gave them to a friend because I did not want to find them dead.

Thanks again.


P.S
For the other gentlemen that got back to me, I just want to say that I found no tracks, but I did set up the round pen and smoothened the ground inside it to see if I could see tracks the nest day found 2 roosters gone and I took pictures of the ground and saw nothing, just need to find them and post them for you to see.
All my friends would come over and say my god, I have never seen roosters that big before but that's in the past now.

Thanks!

 

[Michael Apple]

Thanks for getting back to me and that was one of the things I thought it might be but out of the 6 decapitations not one head was eating. Only the heads of the geese were chewed off and not the chickens,

I though I may have two types of predators running around, one may be a raccoon as you mentioned and the other a horn nose owl. I have big roosters and I found them dead and eaten 500 feet away in an empty lot down the street.

Is there anything else that can lift large chickens and carry them so far away and over 2 five foot tall fences with the outer fence with 3 layers of barb wire. I lost all but 3 of my geese and gave them to a friend because I did not want to find them dead.

Thanks again.

Fox, coon, coyote, bobcat are what I deal with around here. Bobcats and foxes will run off with prey to try and eat in private. Coyotes tear and eat as fast as they can. Coons tear and generally eat the neck, and may travel with body parts if young ones are nearby. Best thing to do is cage trap and see what you catch. They will return if they know there is a food source.

 

[coolpow]

Thanks for getting back to me. I just don't understand why would any animal kill just for the fun of it.

The one morning I found the 7 largest geese dead and nothing was eaten at all?

I understand that even the wild life has to eat too, and it would not have hurt so much What ever it was would have killed and eating only one,

but to kill so many just for fun? It seems to have happened very early in the morning.

For now all I have left is what you see in my main picture. I had to give away my last three geese and also got rid of my three EMU' that I loved so very much

And I miss them a lot, I had them when from when they were only 1 week old. Because I did not want to go out and find them dead from whatever it was.

Thanks again.


Roger

 

[Michael Apple]

Thanks for getting back to me. I just don't understand why would any animal kill just for the fun of it.

The one morning I found the 7 largest geese dead and nothing was eaten at all?

I understand that even the wild life has to eat too, and it would not have hurt so much What ever it was would have killed and eating only one,

but to kill so many just for fun? It seems to have happened very early in the morning.

For now all I have left is what you see in my main picture. I had to give away my last three geese and also got rid of my three EMU' that I loved so very much

And I miss them a lot, I had them when from when they were only 1 week old. Because I did not want to go out and find them dead from whatever it was.

Thanks again.


Roger

Sometimes a predator will get spooked and run off. Then the evidence of killed, uneaten prey remains. I'm sorry that happened, and know how it feels. I warned my folks about an old house they were securing ducks at night. I came over early one morning to take care of their poultry. The house was broken into and all ducks were beheaded with only their necks eaten. I can never stress enough, the importance of looking for evidence of predator animals, such as scat, evidence of digging around fenced yards, etc. As soon as those things are noticed, it is time to set traps such as the cage type with bait. Predators such as coons need to be culled when caught, or else populations increase, causing lots of heartache for us and our animals.