What happened??!! **Graphic Pics**

[bhawk-23]

I had a procedure today so I've been sleeping this afternoon. I woke up to the girls huddled in the coop and 1 pullet and Oscar(rooster) in my front yard in the bushes. I have a 6' privacy fence which Eggers can fly decently so if she was in fear I could see her making it over the fence. But Oscar is so big!

Anyways, I found Buffy, my BO, in the back of the yard dead. Does anyone have any ideas on what did this? I have hawks in the area. Our net does not span the entire yard and it looks like the struggle started in the one open area. I can see 3 specific struggles and the final site.

I'm so pissed at myself! I am always home and check on the girls multiple times a day. I can hear and see them with all the windows. The one day I am sleeping very heavy due to the procedure and this happens.

 

[LaFleche]

To me it looks as if a raccoon got her.

When hawks pluck them, the feathers will have a kink from the beak.

Don't beat yourself up, accidents can happen and sometimes even right beside you watching them.

 

[Rldad1]

I think it was a hawk or if at dusk or dawn maybe an owl. Raccoons eat out the insides and if they have the time they don't leave much.

 

[LaFleche]

I think it was a hawk or if at dusk or dawn maybe an owl. Raccoons eat out the insides and if they have the time they don't leave much.

The raccoons around here came in the afternoon and loved to chew the necks, heads and breasts of my chickens, sometimes even letting them get away half eaten so I had to put them out of their misery.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

I was thinking hawk before i saw the pics, & the plucked feathers look like a hawk kill to me. Very sad and sorry for your loss. Fyi i have a native redtail hawk that includes my acreage in its territory. It seems to be afraid of my dogs, & has never attacked my chickens when the dogs are visible. That hawk Has sucessfully killed several of my birds over the years when the dogs were in another area. The reason im mentioning this is because you said u can usually see and hear your chickens from your windows. The last bird the redtail killed was this past summer. I heard the roosters sounding the warning, & took off running thru woods to back pasture as fast as i could. When the redtail saw me coming it immediately flew up and away. But i was too late. The hawk hadnt even begun to pluck the hen yet, but she was already dead. 2 winters ago had a similiar issue. Again heard the alarm calls. This time the hawk Had begun to pluck a hen. I thought hen was surely dead, but when i picked her up, she opened her eye. (Only one eye, she had obvious neurological damage from the get-go.) She had been a young, strong healthy hen, & I spent over a month trying to save that her. But she had suffered a catastrophic spinal neck injury and was never able to lift her head or eat and drink properly after the attack. The hawk attacks by hitting their necks with extreme force, then uses its talons to hold them on ground and inflict further injury. The hen the hawk killed this past summer died almost immediately. So my point is, even if u can Hear an attack, you may not be able to save the next hen. And the hawk Will be back. Actually, what Ever killed your hen will soon be back, even if it wasnt a hawk that did the deed. It has found a potential buffet in your back yard. Your remaining chickens will be traumatized for a few days or so, & will probably want to stay in their coop. Even if they dont, keep them penned up anyway. That will give you time to fully hawk-proof your yard. And hopefully visibly identify the predator if not a hawk. Hawks arent the worst predator to have, since they only kill what they need to eat on that day. Unfortunately, they will kill every day, or every other day, until the buffet runs out. Again, very sad for your loss. I have a large number of chickens and have lost very few to predators. But even one loss is the pits.

 

[Chickeria]

I'm very sorry you lost your poor Buffy
All chickens killed by hawks I have seen (sadly several) were injured on their backs and always there was eaten/plucked from this area on their back. Only one's neck got eaten (a small cockerel) but his whole body-flesh was eaten before the neck.

 

[bhawk-23]

Thank you all. I assumed it was a hawk because that is what we have around here during the day, which is when it happened. We usually have dogs in and out all day along with me checking on them multiple times. The hawks always fly off when we run out. But I have caught them flying off from the yard before. I will definitely keep them contained for a bit now.

So Oscar is 18.5 weeks and quite big. Why would he have flown out of the yard? The older gals (especially Buffy) was not giving in. He's trying to be on top but is only in the lower middle. Could this be why he flew off?

 

[chickentrains]

My biggest fear

I'm so sorry.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I am so sorry.

 

[RoosterML]

I say a Hawk killed your bird. First area they seem to attack is neck and crop area.