What eats JUST the head?

[sourland]

It's been a long and tough winter. Predators have had it rough. The end of last month I snared 4 vixens. All were extremely thin and showed no evident signs of being in whelp. I need to talk to the man that I gave them to in order to find out whether or not they were bred. On a daily basis I have hawks sitting on top of or hanging on to the aviaries of my pigeon lofts. The critters are hungry.

 

[desertdarlene]

Sorry for your loss. I was wondering the same thing when I came across a dead coot at the lake I go to. He was missing the head as well as most of the breast. But, there were no signs of plucking which would indicate a hawk or falcon. And, I've seen no signs of owls in the area (of course, they could still be there and I haven't seen them). So, I figured it must be one of the raccoons that I've seen tracks of around the area the last week or so. But, I'm not sure because I thought raccoons just ripped everything apart and leave a big mess.

We don't have weasels here, but we do have coyotes and foxes, too, that have torn at ducks at their attempt to capture them. They usually leave feathers around, though.

 

[DTRM30]

could have been just about anything .... especially just after a long winter - lots of hungry predators out there. Unless you caught it or catch it in the future, you may never know.

 

[sweeterdeeter42]

Quote:
do you happen to have silver fox where you live? They smell super skunky! and they have shades of grey and white and black fur. I had a chicken lose its head to something once. It was my very first 4-H project and only hen too. Woke up one morning and she was sitting in the yard of their pen like she was asleep but without a head!!! Never did figure out what got her. We were thinking owl or hawk though.

 

[baldessariclan]

Strong chance it's a hawk -- definitely a daytime hunter, and they will usually after the head and upper breast area first -- that's where most of the fat is. They usually pull out a lot of feathers too, though, so if you didn't find those, it may be something else...

 

[wistlindixie]

I set a trap last night (after losing my third chicken) and caught a possum. A very ugly, fat one.

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
Are there any possums that aren't ugly????? If there are, I haven't seen it.

 

[wistlindixie]

Quote:
Are there any possums that aren't ugly????? If there are, I haven't seen it.

I haven't seen a pretty possum yet. What I ddn't realize is what BIG teeth they have! Ewww, and they hiss....eww!!!!!!

 

[Kori]

I'm only 11 and im really worried about my rooster sooty

his dad was huge and had super long talons and even so we found him without a head.we also found one of our hens without a head and 2 of our hens just vanished along with our last chick.now we only got 2 hens and sooty left and when sooty was just a chick my nephew stuffed him in a jar during the texas heat wave and my stepdad said if i wasnt there to save him and take care of him for 3 nights until he was better he probably would have died so im really worried about him cuz i love him with all my heart and would be so heartbrocken i think i would cry to see him headless and dead in my yard.also they are free-range chickens but we do have a coop that they roost in and lay eggs in if it helps for advice.

 

[Kori]

i need advice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HELP ME!!!!!!!!!