(WARNING!! Graphic!) Chicken with her head and neck missing. Unsure of what killed her.

[boxcarboy]

One of our flock of five died today. My sister spotted the body on the porch away from the pen after dark. I hadn't had time to check up on the chickens today beforehand because I was working.

Her head is completely missing, as is most of her chest, no other chicken parts scattered around. No other chickens are dead or injured that I can see. There are a couple feathers scattered around, but not many. And there do look to be some kind of drag marks in the snow. Not sure if they're related.

Our biggest guess is that our dog is the culprit, since he has injured a chicken in the past, and we have had the occasional 'breaches of containment' with their pen, so to speak. His prints are the only ones I can see, but there are a lot so I might be missing something. If anyone has any ideas on what else it could be, let me know though! I wanted to cover all bases here.

 

[Tonyroo]

Looks like your hunch is right. I don't see any other animal print in the snow.

 

[Geena]

My sister spotted the body on the porch

Your dog, time to beef up your pen.

 

[centrarchid]

Show a picture of the chicken, especially where tissue was consumed around the breast as we as the kill site where feathers are dislocated. Also be watching the dog's stool. You may not yet have your culprit as MO to me means you need to be considering another party that is not as likely to leave tracks in hardened snow.