Pullet found with head, neck, and chest eaten

[miltongirl91]

I found our pullet this morning with its head, neck, and all the organs in chest eaten from chest wall to spine. It was horrible to find this morning. The bird was inside our walk in coop. It had no openings to the area. The birds were fine last night when I closed them in coop. The other 6 birds were all fine.

What kind of animal can get into a fully enclosed structure to eat the bird? And how do I get this predator?

 

[Isadora]

Could you take some pictures of your setup? I assume you have something more strong than just chicken wire covering openings?

 

[cmom]

I would put up a camera and see what is lurking because whatever it was will be back and then you will know what you're dealing with and can form a plan. If you are able, move the birds for the night to someplace safe and put up a camera. I had an owl kill several birds and I moved the birds to another coop and it came back. I had some crappy netting up in that section because I had run short of the other good netting and I thought it would probably deter aerial predators and it did for awhile, but the owl went through the netting. Three times I replaced that section and three times the owl plowed right through it. I replaced it because that was all I had at the time. I have since replaced it with some good netting and the last time the owl tried to go through it got caught. We managed to get it into a cage and a wildlife rescue came and got it. Good luck...

 

[mrtoren]

The bird was inside our walk in coop. It had no openings to the area. The birds were fine last night when I closed them in coop. The other 6 birds were all fine.

What kind of animal can get into a fully enclosed structure to eat the bird? And how do I get this predator?

You need to reorient your thinking and challenge your assumptions. "It had no openings." Yes, it did, otherwise a predator would not have made it in. Your current thought process is assuming the coop is secure -- you need to flip that upside down, assume it is totally unsecured, and search for the opening that clearly exists somewhere.

You may need to clean out the coop, get down on your hands and knees, and search every inch of it with a flashlight. Do not dismiss any hole or gap as "too small" to be a threat. Plug it securely. Check every board for fit, every piece of hardware cloth or chicken wire for tautness. Are the eaves open? Even if you believe it would be too hard to scale the coop and enter from the top, many predators would disagree.