Please help, what could have done this??? **GRAPHIC PICS**

[bufforp89]

I would agree with hawk/raptor, I had serious trouble with one last year (it was coming daily and taking chickens until we got netting up) and had several killed that looked similar to yours. Netting is the way to go but there are also several other things you can do such as hanging up shiny objects to confuse the bird responsible.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

I heard crow decoys work. Hawks apparently don't like to share territory with crows.

 

[sourland]

Tani, hawks tend to remain in the area where they have found food. For the next week or so I would suggest supervised free ranging for your chickens. Good luck in protecting them.

 

[borristherat]

Quote:
not an expert but some hawks eat crows according to my book.

old cd's hanging from string are what all the gamekeepers use to discourage hawks anything shiny and moving causing them to glint in the sun, i had a problem in my pheasant pen last year and used some of those little plastic windmills you can get for the garden, painted them silver put them on top of all the posts round the pen. not that it helped as it turned out it was my sisters cat, she asked me how much i sold my pheasants for as she owed me for at least 10, she nearly cried when i told her £16 each. she didnt pay for the pheasants but did re-home the cat and got a dog which ignores the pheasants/chickens and chases horses.................her horses.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Sorry about Becka.

It looks like it could be raccoon or owl to me. I know it doesn't seem like it, but we have lots of raccoons here (even in the center of town). You also have lots of owls, especially out where you live. You even might have coatimundis, depending on your elevation. Good luck locking them up tonight, another storm is rolling in right now.

 

[ChickcrazyCharlie]

I say hawk or owl. I had a silkie and bantam cochin killed the same way. I caught the hawk killing the silkie. Sorry for your loss.

 

[Tanichca]

Quote:
Coatamundi is a maybe, I have seen them around our house (4100 feet) and I do remember seeing a low-flying hawk outside the window. The storm has hit already, and its hit HARD. You know how it can be, with the lighting so bright it hurts your eyes, and then not a spilt second later BOOOM!!!! I made the birds an extra shelter to get in while theyre in the coop, because they spend most storms huddled underneath the rabbit house... thick metal roof to keep hail and rain out (hail that was the size of large marbles, oh my!) And I will be keeping them in coop arrest until further notice.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Yeah, that was a good storm yesterday. The lightning was the worst I'd seen in a very long time. It definitely could be hawk too. I think this is one of the worst times of the year here for hawks as this year's fledglings learn to hunt and the migrants arrive. Good luck!

 

[leadwolf1]

Hawk...just had a polish taken by a hawk that looked just like that...

 

[mel83452]

interesting. i am dealing with massive massacre at our home. came home to 2 dogs who had bowled through the electric fence (which wasn't hooked up). they got 6 birds. i left for work the next day and only let them out in the run that has a 7 foot wooden fence that it dug in a foot into the ground. it does not have a top on it. that afternoon after work, i noticed another was dead in the coop with a big chuck out of its belly. thought it must have been injured the day before. this morning i pulled one that had major injuries (i thought from the dog) into the house and cleaned the wound…again, big gaping hole! have her in a pen in here. then tonight i went to close them in and another chicken was dead in the coop with a big hole in it. what could this be. i know there is a skunk nearby, but can they climb a 7 foot wooden fence? any ideas would be great. none of the chickens are leaving the coop (which is part of an old building with concrete floors and wooden walls built in the 40's) until i can be sure i am not going to lose another. we have gone from 28 chickens to 17 in a very short time. this sucks.