Hello all, I need some help.
My husband and I have had our hens (reds and leghorns) and ducks (mallards and khakis) for a little over a year now. Last night we had our first run in with a predator. About 4 a.m. this morning I heard the birds carrying on and ran out to see what was going on. I saw nothing making a getaway even though it took me less than a minute to get outside after i woke to the commotion.
I have one khaki completely missing, no trace at all. I found a mallard and a khaki both wounded with a single puncture wound to the side. (The khaki died later this morning.) And a red hen dead, all its chest feathers plucked out but still only a single puncture wound to the side.
Our yard is fenced in for a goat and the birds are able to go through the fence but they stay within it at night close to, if not in the coop. All the dead and wounded birds were found within the fenced in area anyway. I'm leaning toward an owl; assuming the wounds are from a talon, but everything else i read says they kill one and eat the head only. All the parts were there, minus the khaki that is completely missing.
I'm not even sure an owl could carry off a full grown khaki; and if it were something else, then why only a single puncture wound?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
~Val
My husband and I have had our hens (reds and leghorns) and ducks (mallards and khakis) for a little over a year now. Last night we had our first run in with a predator. About 4 a.m. this morning I heard the birds carrying on and ran out to see what was going on. I saw nothing making a getaway even though it took me less than a minute to get outside after i woke to the commotion.
I have one khaki completely missing, no trace at all. I found a mallard and a khaki both wounded with a single puncture wound to the side. (The khaki died later this morning.) And a red hen dead, all its chest feathers plucked out but still only a single puncture wound to the side.
Our yard is fenced in for a goat and the birds are able to go through the fence but they stay within it at night close to, if not in the coop. All the dead and wounded birds were found within the fenced in area anyway. I'm leaning toward an owl; assuming the wounds are from a talon, but everything else i read says they kill one and eat the head only. All the parts were there, minus the khaki that is completely missing.
I'm not even sure an owl could carry off a full grown khaki; and if it were something else, then why only a single puncture wound?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
~Val