Opossum?

[VannahRAe]

This morning I woke up to white feathers all over my front yard. I immediately ran to my chicken coop expecting the worst. Only the worst got worse. I had a hen missing which explained the feathers but I also found I had my rooster missing also. I went around the back of the coop to look for evidence and I found a new trail of black feathers which could only be my beautiful rooster's. I followed the trail until I came upon his body. It was headless. All the animal that had drug him off took was his head. I called around and explained the situation to a couple people and I was told numerous times it was in fact a opossum. I never did find my hens body. I examined the fencing and nothing looked disturbed except the remaining six hens. I got some boards and nailed them all around the bottom just as a precaution. I set a trap in my chicken's run which is blocked off so they can't get to it until I catch whatever it is. I'm hoping I catch this rascal tonight. I put the trap out there with a hot dog as bait. I'm so tore up about losing my favorite hen, Martha, and the prettiest rooster I've ever seen, Pablo.

If any of you have had this same thing happen to you please explain. If you don't think it's a opossum what else could it be? I need a little help ya'll.

 

[Kevin565]

Do you have raccoons in your area?

 

[VannahRAe]

Yes but I've never seen any near my house.

 

[littleoak]

I think the possum is the least of your problems. The only thing I ever had do that type of damage was a fox. A possum is a lazy predator and will eat the insides of a chicken where ever he kills it. A weasel will sometime take the head but I don't think it is the problem. A coon is a posibility but probably not.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

I think coon. I've had them do this numerous times to my birds, and have even watched them 'stalk' my birds. Possums, as stated before, are very lazy. I've never had foxes here, so I don't know how they kill their prey.

 

[shmccarthy]

I would think either fox or coon. The feathers, and feather trail are similar to what happened when I had a fox attack. We didn't find any bodies but feathers were everywhere and in different trails in the yard. The one body we did find was my leghorn and the neck was snapped, but we caught the fox doing that one and he dropped her and ran.
When someone I know's coop was raided by a coon 3 years ago, there was likewise feathers everywhere. The raccoon ate some heads and body parts but otherwise slaughtered the rest and didn't touch them. Based on those experiences by me, I would say you have a fox or a raccoon on your hands.

 

[VannahRAe]

Okay thanks for all your replies. I've set traps out to try and catch whatever it is because I know it'll come back.

 

[VannahRAe]

I just found this really great website that helps with the identification of predators! It's really helping me out lol. http://professorchickenspredators.webs.com/opossums.htm