What killed my chickens? *Images of dead chickens*

[SurferchickinSB]

We live in Southeastern NC and have owned 4 backyard chickens for about 2.5 years now. We have a very large fenced in yard (basically a double lot) and let them roam during the day and lock them in the coop at night. We lost 2 a few months ago to predators, I believe to be coyotes. Today, around noon, I walked outside to find feathers everywhere and both chickens dead, but mostly intact. They were at least 50 feet apart, one was under our Willow tree. Whatever killed them didn't eat them. I hadn't even heard/seen any signs of distress and I was only yards away, right near the front door. I'm very upset but mostly confused. Our coyotes are common but not during the day, was this a hawk? Pictures included for reference...

My guess would be a dog. Only because they left it and did not carry it away to eat.

 

[2 many chickens]

Dog.

 

[Stepnout]

That looks like a domestic dog kill. The red bird looks to have a puncture mark from a canine tooth. Also domestic dogs many times kill, pull some feathers and go after more birds. They usually have the chase and kill prey drive but have never eaten a fresh kill. They will through experience eat what they kill. That dog will be back if it has the opportunity.
Sorry for your loss.

 

[Stepnout]

A 4 foot fence is no match for the average lab sized dog in shape to jump over. Most dog kennel runs are a minimum 6 feet.

 

[cmom]

It could have been most any predator. They don't always carry off the birds. I Have had several in the past not carry off their kill. Now I have my coops and pens very protected so nothing will get my birds. I also put up several game cameras on my property and was surprised at how many predators roam around here especially at night. They don't come out so much during the day because of the heat. Yesterday it was 101 here. I don't free range any more but the birds all have large pens. Here we have mostly coyotes and fox some bobcats, coons, possums, hawks, owls and eagles. There are also neighbors dogs and cats. We are rural on a dead end road so once in awhile people who catch, will release their catches around here. Someone once actually left a baby goose in our driveway.

 

[cmom]

All of my fences are 5' high. I once many years ago had a coyote jump over the fence into a pen and kill some birds. Since I have electric wire around my pens and coops also because of a bobcat, possum that tried to dig under the fence, concrete under the gates because of a fox and a skunk, and heavy duty netting covering all of my pens due to an owl that killed several birds. Good luck... I hope you figure out what killed your birds. It will be back. A coyote behind some of the coops. I'm sure it knows the electric wire is there.

 

[jlwquilter]

Really? During the day? Why would it kill both but then not eat them?

I haven’t read all of this thread yet but want to say that I see raccoons during the day where I live in SE Florida. Just scrolling across the yard to and from the bananas primarily.

 

[CindyinSD]

An electric fence wire on the perimeter 4-6” high will “bite” the doggies when they sniff, then another one maybe 2’ up will deter canine/feline predators and some others as well. The dog doesn’t typically just soar over a fence because it’s there. It will sniff first unless it’s in pursuit of prey already.

If your fence is right on your property line already this may not be possible of course, but if you can manage it somehow, a psychological barrier is often more effective than a physical one. I can tell you from experience that a good hard shock, while not what I’d call painful, is not something you want to experience a second time. At all. You do have to keep the grass trimmed below the level of the fence wires or it will wick away the spark and disable the fence.

 

[cmom]

I have my bottom wire approximately 4" to 6" off the ground and then upward about a foot apart. I have 3 wires in most places except behind the coops where in some places there is one wire and some places where there are 2 wires.

 

[Brittanymorgan1986]

I'm going to say it looks like a dog to me. Dogs have a very hard time stopping themselves it's the wolf DNA I guess. But the dog in them doesn't know what to do after it has gotten the animal so they usually leave it.