Warning: potentially distressing- death
Located in Brisbane Australia
Hi! We’ve been away for the day and found one of our poor silkies has been killed. I’m trying to figure out what has done it so we can avoid another tragedy. Our chickens have been free-ranging during the day for 6 years and this is our first incident. (They are very secure at night)
She had been in our fenced front yard. We found her body under a bush with lots of feathers around it. No sign of a chase though. Her head and neck was missing, and all the flesh had been removed/eaten off from one wing- the bones were still all there. The other wing- only half the bones were there with flesh removed- the rest of the wing was missing. The rest of her body appeared unharmed.
Because it’s winter the goannas aren’t active at the moment- in summer that would be my first thought. We do have foxes in our area, but they’ve not come near our yard, especially during the day, and I doubt they’d leave the body the way it was? The crows have been hanging around a lot the last week… although I doubt they would kill a chook, I think they would be capable of eating it if she died of some other causes.
We’re keeping them locked up during the day until we figure it out…
Any other ideas?
Located in Brisbane Australia
Hi! We’ve been away for the day and found one of our poor silkies has been killed. I’m trying to figure out what has done it so we can avoid another tragedy. Our chickens have been free-ranging during the day for 6 years and this is our first incident. (They are very secure at night)
She had been in our fenced front yard. We found her body under a bush with lots of feathers around it. No sign of a chase though. Her head and neck was missing, and all the flesh had been removed/eaten off from one wing- the bones were still all there. The other wing- only half the bones were there with flesh removed- the rest of the wing was missing. The rest of her body appeared unharmed.
Because it’s winter the goannas aren’t active at the moment- in summer that would be my first thought. We do have foxes in our area, but they’ve not come near our yard, especially during the day, and I doubt they’d leave the body the way it was? The crows have been hanging around a lot the last week… although I doubt they would kill a chook, I think they would be capable of eating it if she died of some other causes.
We’re keeping them locked up during the day until we figure it out…
Any other ideas?
Could you imagine importing those? I digress.
