No Sighting. [No Pictures] Daytime Predator - FL Panhandle. Help pls?

[U_Stormcrow]

They are VERY rare. In a decade of camping in the I-4 corridor, I never saw one, nor sign of one. Article from 1993. FWC (same link as above) is tracking them again, asking for the public to record their sightings, but they don't make a map of reports easy to access.

I'm still leaning towards Raccoon, as trash bears have at least a little more mass on them, and are rather less rare. Mink are larger, and seemingly less rare than weasels, but prefer saltwater marshes, and I'm a long ways from the coast - almost to Alabama.

Its a mystery, almost w/o any clues. Putting some long clothes on, sneaking out with a flashlight, and sweeping my fields in a hunt for glowing eyes. The native cayote packs are at least two miles distant tonight, barely audible.

 

[cmom]

I hope you get a camera. I love my cameras.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Told my wife, its on the list. I could use a wood chipper too, but will have more fun with the camera(s).

 

[DogAndCat36]

That sounds most like the work of a raccon grabbing and pulling with its hand(s). Having said that, i agree that raccoons during day hours are uncommon. Once your bird stuck her head thru the wire, ANYthing could have grabbed her head with its mouth, or even its beak. For example, several years ago, a pair of mississippi kites pulled the heads off several 6-week old chicks housed in a wire dog kennel that i had put underneath a tree one spring afternoon. I only knew it was kites that did the deed because they were perched in the tree above, staring down at the cage in frustration because the chick bodies were too big to pull through. Even tho a kite would be too small to grab a 9 # cornish cross, a red-tail hawk would NOT be too small. But if your run has no top, an aerial predator would have attacked from above, which leads back to a ground predator. Just about mammalian predator could grab the head with its teeth, including a dog. Sounds like u took proper precautions in installing an electric fence, & the outage was a freak occurence. U can put up a camera since the predator will likely try again, but the backup solution to any possible electric outage is to attach 1/2 inch hardware cloth (or similiar small width wire) to the lower 3 feet of your run. That will keep anything from reaching through, as well as prevent chickens from sticking their heads out. When the predator comes back, it will likely get a good shock from your now working fence. A camera would allow u to know what is lurking, & also provide a bit of satisfaction/revenge when the predator discovers that reaching through the fence again is no longer a good idea AT All. Smirk.

I agree that it is most likely a raccoon.
Also, I had a newly hatched chick and broody almost killed by two raccoons that crawled into the coop in the middle of the day. So they are opportunistic.

 

[cmom]

Check out YouTube. Lots of good videos on the differences in different cameras.

 

[bryan99705]

A con will slip up, reach thru the wire and pull a sleeping hens head thru the hole

 

[roosterhavoc]

Fox or raccoon. Bird don’t just get yanked through the wire. They get scared and stick their head out through an opening. It’s an easy target.
Hens will even do it sometimes with an overly aggressive rooster to *get away* from him.
This is why unless you have hardware cloth or something sturdy with small enough openings a bird can’t stick his head out it’s wise to trap around your yard if you have known predators hanging around.