What killed my chicken?

[calliecorey]

Hi, I'm new to this group. I'm trying to learn and be successful with my chickens. I have 15 to start off with. One was eaten by a snake and the other one, was lost to a predator. I'm trying to figure out what may have killed my girl. The head of the chicken was completely gone, except for the bones. The chickens wings eaten, except for the bones. I appeared to have been grabbed, then dragged about 30 feet from the coop and eaten. Just the head and the wings were eaten. There was a small, ring of intestine hanging on the neck. I'm going to set my trap out tonight. I'm guessing a Racoon or opossum. We live in South Texas, racoons, coyotes and opossums around my house. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[CluckerFamily]

I'm thinking raccoon.

 

[Weeg]

You got yourself a raccoon, set a trap of sure, what will you do with it once you catch it?

 

[calliecorey]

You got yourself a raccoon, set a trap of sure, what will you do with it once you catch it?

In the past, when I caught a racoon, I moved it to a different area, with access to water at least 5 miles from my house. The local wildlife rescue group said that was wrong because the raccoons are territorial and when placed in a new area, they get attacked. I think I will still remove them to a different area, with access to water. I don't want them killing my girls.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

You need to kill this raccoon. Moving them is the worst option.
Raccoon article

 

[Weeg]

You need to either kill it, or way up your predator proofing. If they can't get to your birds, they will go away. If you relocate it, but don't up your protection, then it will be back, or something else will come for the kill. We have so many predators, we can't kill them all, we just have a VERY tight night area, so nothing an kill, and they don't come around.

 

[aart]

Hi, I'm new to this group. I'm trying to learn and be successful with my chickens. I have 15 to start off with. One was eaten by a snake and the other one, was lost to a predator. I'm trying to figure out what may have killed my girl. The head of the chicken was completely gone, except for the bones. The chickens wings eaten, except for the bones. I appeared to have been grabbed, then dragged about 30 feet from the coop and eaten. Just the head and the wings were eaten. There was a small, ring of intestine hanging on the neck. I'm going to set my trap out tonight. I'm guessing a Racoon or opossum. We live in South Texas, racoons, coyotes and opossums around my house. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

When was it grabbed?
During the day while free ranging or......?

 

[cmom]

In the past, when I caught a racoon, I moved it to a different area, with access to water at least 5 miles from my house. The local wildlife rescue group said that was wrong because the raccoons are territorial and when placed in a new area, they get attacked. I think I will still remove them to a different area, with access to water. I don't want them killing my girls.

When was it grabbed?
During the day while free ranging or......?

This would be good to know.

I agree with the wildlife rescue group. We are rural on a dead end road and have been the recipients of other people's catch and release. In most places it is illegal to release on other property unless you get the property owners permission. If I have a predator killing any of my birds I eliminate it. Once they make a kill the predator will usually lurk looking for more opportunities. I have electric wires around my coops and pens, concrete under the gates and good heavy duty netting covering my pens, all due to losses from predators in the past. I have several game cameras on my property.
This bobcat killed 14 birds one night. It made the mistake of coming back for more.

 

[calliecorey]

When was it grabbed?
During the day while free ranging or......?

It was grabbed during the evening, free ranging.