Two of my chickens taken by predators this morning

Aug 11, 2018
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My Barred Rock and Black Copper Marans hens got taken by predators this morning. My guess based on temperature is that this happened around 8-9 a.m. I walked out about noon and found feathers/skin from the Barred Rock but no bird. The Marans was decapitated with her skin peeled back over one breast.

As I hadn't processed a bird before, I processed her via plucking and skinning. I recovered gizzards and some immature eggs (about three times the size of a marble).

My questions:

1) What would you say the predator was? I am guessing hawk based on the decapped Marans, but do hawks typically take off with a 6 pound barred rock?

2) Is the processed carcass of the Marans safe to eat? (She was between 30-32 weeks old). If so, how long to let the carcass rest and how best to prepare it? I have heard the immature eggs are a delicacy; anyone heard of eating them or how to prepare them?

3) The Marans and the BR began laying within the last month, and since then have become more "squatty" and easier to catch than the others. The chickens run in my backyard, but I have a rain run. Should I confine "squatty" chickens to it?

Very sad for my first loss of two chickens...
 
My Barred Rock and Black Copper Marans hens got taken by predators this morning. My guess based on temperature is that this happened around 8-9 a.m. I walked out about noon and found feathers/skin from the Barred Rock but no bird. The Marans was decapitated with her skin peeled back over one breast.

As I hadn't processed a bird before, I processed her via plucking and skinning. I recovered gizzards and some immature eggs (about three times the size of a marble).

My questions:

1) What would you say the predator was? I am guessing hawk based on the decapped Marans, but do hawks typically take off with a 6 pound barred rock?

2) Is the processed carcass of the Marans safe to eat? (She was between 30-32 weeks old). If so, how long to let the carcass rest and how best to prepare it? I have heard the immature eggs are a delicacy; anyone heard of eating them or how to prepare them?

3) The Marans and the BR began laying within the last month, and since then have become more "squatty" and easier to catch than the others. The chickens run in my backyard, but I have a rain run. Should I confine "squatty" chickens to it?

Very sad for my first loss of two chickens...
No idea where you live but probably a fox. I wouldn’t eat the bird since you don’t know what killed it but that’s up to you.
 
I live in the sf bay area, inner suburb. It's fairly dense. We have raccoons, skunks but have never heard of or seen fox in the neighborhood... are they day hunters?
 
I live in the sf bay area, inner suburb. It's fairly dense. We have raccoons, skunks but have never heard of or seen fox in the neighborhood... are they day hunters?
Usually if a bird is missing it’s a canine of some sort. Foxes and coyotes will hunt day or night. It’s not unheard of for a raccoon to be out in daylight either. I’ve caught them between 9-10am a few times. They don’t carry off birds though.
 
My BF found the BR behind some bushes in a corner of the backyard. She had been eaten all the way down to the bone and including, actually, some bones. He observed raccoon prints around it.

I asked him to give the carcass to the animal shelter to feed wildlife, but he said they would probably say no.
 
My BF found the BR behind some bushes in a corner of the backyard. She had been eaten all the way down to the bone and including, actually, some bones. He observed raccoon prints around it.

I asked him to give the carcass to the animal shelter to feed wildlife, but he said they would probably say no.

I would say that you have a raccoon problem, and it will be back now that it know's where an easy food source is. You will need to find a way to get rid of the raccoon and any more of them that you may have, or you will have to contain your remaining flock in a coop and run that they will not be able to get into.
 
I would say that you have a raccoon problem, and it will be back now that it know's where an easy food source is. You will need to find a way to get rid of the raccoon and any more of them that you may have, or you will have to contain your remaining flock in a coop and run that they will not be able to get into.

Raccoons are endemic in the area. They breed in storm sewers like the one next to my front yard. I know about ammonia, not leaving pet food out, etc. and employ those. At this point, an immediate dispatch answer may be necessary.

Some people might be going, "Oh, they were here first," or "if you get rid of them, it's just a vacuum," or "they're wiiildliiife." So are rats. Raccoons eat garbage, they go across the fences in the hood, they shit the brain-eating disease raccoon roundworm on my lawn. AFAIK, they can be dealt with like rats.
 

People are saying fox, but I've never heard of a sighting nearby. Even mountain lion sightings are more common, but they have been exclusively on the other side of the eight-lane highway where I'm at.

I know that predation is common and have been conditioning myself to view my chickens as livestock. But damn, I raised these two from when they were just li'l chicks, they were just starting to lay, and the one BR was very cuddly.

I miss them, like pets.
 

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