What guts a chicken and bites its head clear off?

[ChickenHawk12]

We found her INSIDE the coop this afternoon. I checked on them yesterday afternoon before we left for BBQ/fireworks, and they had plenty of food and water and it was POURING last night and this morning, so I didn't check on them until after lunch today.

The other 3 chickens were fine, there wasn't any visible blood anywhere, but there were feathers all over the coop and she was stiff there on the floor, guts ripped open and eaten out and head nowhere to be found.

What on earth can do something like that? The other chickens don't look touched. And she was inside the coop, not the run. I'm assuming something got into the coop, so we need to secure the roof venting better, but the space to get in isn't too big, maybe 3 inches? We can't find any holes dug under the run fence, so that must be where they got it.

Any ideas?

 

[Rock Home Isle]

It sounds just like a raccoon.

Here's a nice trick...

If You think You know how it's getting in, but the ground is hard or there is too much leaf litter to allow for sign, then dig a shallow depression maybe 13 or 14 inches across and fill it with play sand. Any critter that comes by will leave their prints in that play sand. You'll get perfect animal tracks, and it's easy to erase, just smooth it out each day.

Do this around the coop and run at key locations when you are trying to figure out how the heck are they getting in...or what the heck is killing my chickens. Play sand at key locations will give you all need to identify the perpetrator.

When you figure out what it is, then we can figure out how to get rid of it.

I would reccomend getting a cage trap...not a cheap cage trap, but a solid well made cage trap.

....like this one.

 

[ChickenHawk12]

Thanks! That's a great trick! Upon further thought, we believe it got in through the door to the run. The wood is starting to warp a little and I noticed recently that it has become easy to pull the bottom corner out a little bit. I think that's how it got in, and I think it was probably either a raccoon or a possum.

We have a have-a-heart trap because we used to get groundhogs every year, so we are putting that out inside the run next to the door, and I am locking the chickens in the coop tonight. We will see what tomorrow brings....what a disturbing sight to find a headless, gutted chicken inside the coop and NO blood anywhere. Creepy.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Thanks!  That's a great trick!  Upon further thought, we believe it got in through the door to the run.  The wood is starting to warp a little and I noticed recently that it has become easy to pull the bottom corner out a little bit.  I think that's how it got in, and I think it was probably either a raccoon or a possum.  

We have a have-a-heart trap because we used to get groundhogs every year, so we are putting that out inside the run next to the door, and I am locking the chickens in the coop tonight.  We will see what tomorrow brings....what a disturbing sight to find a headless, gutted chicken inside the coop and NO blood anywhere.  Creepy.

Sounds like you are on your way to solving this problem...let us know how it goes.

Canned cat food makes a great bait for raccoons, skunks, opposums...etc.