What killed my hen?

[Vannahen]

i am a new hen mom. I have a hen that was discovered that has been attacked. Can anyone tell me what they think got her? I live in Missouri.
This is the first hen I’ve lost, pretty devastated as my girls are like family to me.

 

[Vannahen]

i am a new hen mom. I have a hen that was discovered that has been attacked. Can anyone tell me what they think got her? I live in Missouri.
This is the first hen I’ve lost, pretty devastated as my girls are like family to me.

 

[cmom]

It is really hard to say. It could have been most any predator. My suggestion is if you have a game camera, put it up because from my experiences the predator will be back once it has made a kill. I have several game cameras on my property and hardly a night will go by when I don't get a predator on at least one of my cameras. Here the predators roam mostly at night, mostly coyotes but we have other predators too. A few months ago a fox did kill my favorite bird during the middle of the day. Good luck.
Here are a couple of pictures of my chick/grow-out coop. I do have electric wire around all of my coops and pens and most of the predators know it's there. A coyote and a fox.

 

[slordaz]

from looking at the picture a weasel or a ferret would be my guess, they kill mostly for sport and don't eat just drain blood, could have been any predator that kills though but was well fed too. My recommendation is get a trail cam, they are pretty cheap on Amazon and easy to set up. Make sure they can't get into your coop blow or above , and put a hot wire around the area, if ya can sit out for next few nights with a gun and shot what ever it is bothering your coop

 

[Christabean]

Or a raccoon. They also will kill just to eat the crop or head. :-( I'm sorry about your hen. I felt like it was insult to injury to have one of my beloved hens killed last year by a raccoon that didn't even eat her!! Was it during the day? Once they got a couple chickens they started coming around even before dark. It took weeks of deterring before they stopped coming around again. I hope this was a one-time thing and they won't be back . . . But I'd prepare for the worst.

 

[Vannahen]

Thanks so much everyone. My boyfriend is now on a predator hunt and ready to kill anything that comes by my girls!! Truly just broke my heart, as I am a young/new hen mom ): we have motion detection light out and now I’ve got a camera that will notify me when something is moving around my coop and notify my phone.
Here is a picture of my girls home we got them! I’ve had them since pullets and they all run to me,sit on me and love on their mama, I am quite devastated by my loss.

 

[Chickens4Life101]

Raccoons are known to take the head and leave the body. Sorry about your poor girl

 

[Vannahen]

It is really hard to say. It could have been most any predator. My suggestion is if you have a game camera, put it up because from my experiences the predator will be back once it has made a kill. I have several game cameras on my property and hardly a night will go by when I don't get a predator on at least one of my cameras. Here the predators roam mostly at night, mostly coyotes but we have other predators too. A few months ago a fox did kill my favorite bird during the middle of the day. Good luck.
Here are a couple of pictures of my chick/grow-out coop. I do have electric wire around all of my coops and pens and most of the predators know it's there. A coyote and a fox.
View attachment 1909472 View attachment 1909474

I do have game cameras, they are set up in the woods that I plan to move closer to my coop! Thank you

 

[PattyNH]

Raccoon, weasel, or owl would be my guess. So sorry for your loss!

 

[Vannahen]

She was still in her run when we found her.