Random dead cornish cross? GRAPHIC PICTURES

[TheVillageCarpenter]

Hey folks, we live on a hill, have the odd fox and hawk but NOTHING comes near our property, no deer, pheasent, cat nothing, we're like the Bermuda circle for wildlife :/


All the other birds are fine, no sign of a fight, just came home after 3 hours and laying dead beside the feeder middle of the day. not too hot out just nice, cool water, no issues with the Cornish, this is our first year with meat birds. is this a regular thing? or is it caused by something? they're on good pasture gasses, red and white clover, grass, wild strawberries etc. moved daily, plenty of room for them free access to food and cool water 24/7. just looks basically like they crapped out their guts :/ any advice here? Over halfway would hate to lose another!

 

[casportpony]

Sorry for your loss. Can you post larger pictures?

 

[TheVillageCarpenter]

Sorry for your loss. Can you post larger pictures?

Thanks, just tried to put bigger pictures on, not great with technology.

 

[iwltfum]

What's the density of your pens? I have a feeling this is a crowding issue, but the nice state of the grass under the chicken in the picture confuses me.

 

[casportpony]

Much better. I've only seen something like that once before, it was a rooster of mine that prolapsed his intestines. Are there any peck wounds on him?

 

[Peppercorngal]

Do you mean the Bermuda Triangle? Anyway it sure looks like an attack to me. What is odd that the attacker did not carry her away. Looks like a daytime fox or racoon attack. You may have come home and scared the predator away. How are the other chickens behaving? Do they seem to be "spooked" in any way? That's my take on it anyway. We had to fence our "free range area" because of daytime fox, coyote and stray dog attacks on our chickens. Now we have a 5 foot tall fence up, no more attacks. Sorry you lost your chicken this way.

 

[Criticalicious]

Do your chickens free range or are they securely locked in a tractor/coop/run 24/7? There could be any number of different predators from land or air. They are there, whether or not you've seen them yourself. Put up game cameras if you don't believe. Use this dead chicken as bait in a live trap and see what you're dealing with.

Everything eats chicken. Electric fence will stop most ground predators and a securely covered run protects against air predators. If you're not prepared to invest in defenses, then prepare to deal with losses.

 

[chicken3fly]

Do your chickens free range or are they securely locked in a tractor/coop/run 24/7? There could be any number of different predators from land or air. They are there, whether or not you've seen them yourself. Put up game cameras if you don't believe. Use this dead chicken as bait in a live trap and see what you're dealing with.

Everything eats chicken. Electric fence will stop most ground predators and a securely covered run protects against air predators. If you're not prepared to invest in defenses, then prepare to deal with losses.

i aggree

 

[TheVillageCarpenter]

Hi Folks, thanks for everyone's responses! Wasn't a predator, thouygh we do have foxes and hawks, I shot every raccoon around, and chased a bobcat down a bank into the woods I think I scared 8 of it's 9 lives away haha. they're in a secure tractor, nothing crawled or dug under, no signs of a struggle or damage around the vent. likmes ome of you suggested, I talked to a couple local chicken people, and my ex vet friend once she was finally free, and they all say its a rare "ish" thing but that it was a prolapsed anus it looks like.

 

[Chickenhappy8708]

That's what it looks like, a rectal prolapse:/ sorry that you had to loose one.