Took just the head. No blood no feathers

[silkiechicken]

Yes, weasels are like ferrets and some can even get though one inch holes when they are young! It could have been a large rat too. In the coop, I doubt it was a coon.

 

[hcammack]

actualy I bet it was a weasal chainlink holes are big enough for a large adult weasal to get through.

henry

 

[ole-crone]

Looking at the pics in the topic about "Oatmeal Fun..." if your chainlink fence had gaps like that, you might have had a visit from a raccoon. Since it was a silkie, you could have had a small raccoon just out on its own.

We had our own surprise this evening. I went out to the chicken coop to find a chicken hanging upside down from a string. I hope it was a freak accident and not a sign that our very strange new neighbors are weirder than first thought. Luckily, the chicken was ok. I still can't figure out how she managed to do it on her own.

 

[silkiechicken]

Time to add locks to the coops so no humans can get in....


I still think the OP's problem is a weasal, since I've had a coon get in before, and it ate the whole silkie leaving behind a leg and part of a comb.

 

[Tony O]

A skunk could also get through small spaces. They eat on the heads & suck the blood, so therefore, no blood. I've caught them killing setting hens as well as young pea fowl that way.

Whatever it was, it'll probably be back.

 

[Picco]

Two years ago I lost three hens, one each night. I found there headless bodies in the nest boxes. My mother was the one to find the third hen's body and heard a scratching sound in the coop wall (there's a gap between the outside siding and the interior plywood, but I hadn't finished building so the plywood only went up the bottom 4 ft of the wall). She looked down into the gap and saw a weasel. I wasn't home at the time so she called a family friend who came over and the shot it. After that there were no more deaths, so it was definitely a weasel that killed my hens.

Weasels are a horrible problem because they can fit through virtually any size hole. I would try to weasel proof your coop the best you can, filling holes with hardware cloth. In the mean time I would look into trapping.

 

[IHeartChickens]

Quote:
Here is what a weasle looks like. It is rare that you will ever see one. They are skinny, slippery, chicken killers.

 

[KaoticKritters]

Hi my name is Mike 2yrs ago we had the same thing happen to our Jap Bantam , come to find out is was a weasel I ended up killing 3 of them. Our neighbor up the road about a mile away had the same problem they just like to take the head for some strange reason. helpful hint is to live trap them with dough balls (raw biscuit dough with alot of dry meat or some kind of steak seasoning)

 

[ole-crone]

Small spaces - And what can get past them...

I had quite a shock this evening. Last night I moved all of the chickens who thought that the old outhouse (now a potting shed) was their home to the main chicken coop (It's been hovering around 12 degrees out and I thought they'd like some extra warmth). Today, I shut the door of the outhouse and 'locked' it - the same way I locked it every night when they were sleeping in there.

This evening we were out shutting away chickens after dark since we had late visitors and I noticed that one of my EEs was missing - one that had been moved from the outhouse the night before. Poor girl, we figured she was confused about where she was to sleep.

Dh grabbed his flashlight and started checking the trees, bushes and outbuildings. Nothing. Although the door to the outhouse was still latched I decided to take a peek. THERE SHE WAS!! The openings to that shed are no more than 3" anywhere! She is a full grown EE. I have no idea how she squeezed her way in. I'd always worried about those chickens but now I know that if she could muscle her way into it, a small raccoon could as well.

I think we sometimes take our 'security' for granted.

 

[Screebert]

The same thing happened to 2 of my hens! Only the heads were missing. They were found on 2 separate mornings, about a week apart.

A neighbor dog (only visiting, thank goodness) had killed a chicken a few days before the first headless chicken was found. But the dog had ripped that hen apart, and had pulled feathers out of other chickens, all in broad daylight. The headless chicken seemed like such a different style of killing than the way the dog attacked.

It's really bizarre and disturbing.

Most of our chickens sleep in the trees at night, even though a coop is available.