Yesterday morning we had 9 hens and three rooster, divided into three families kept in separate, adjoining pens. About 4pm I heard an alarming noise. I was about 100 feet away and found Lucy freshly killed. She was a full-grown Turken, so she was the largest of our hens. She had a bloody but small wound in one wing and her neck had been stripped of skin, although the meat on her neck seemed undisturbed. I did a walkabout and did not see any breach in the fence or any where that looked like a predator had come under the fence. About 4 months ago about 8 am while getting the chickens out, I heard a noise and looked up to see a hawk about the land on a post where the chicken wire is nailed to. I yelled and scared it off, then put a plastic owl atop of the post. By the time I got to Lucy her body was still very soft and the blood had not coagulated, so this had just happened. What beast killed Lucy?
If your fenced area is not covered with some kind of mesh, then you've answered your own question....Hawk. Sorry for your loss.
