What kind of animal has killed my hens?

[MissChick@dee]

If a chicken is killed and the body is not removed the other chickens will peck and tear apart the carcass.

 

[sourland]

I agree with @aart. From your description it is not other chickens and most likely not a cat.

 

[Alexandra33]

I have plenty of experience with cats (feral/outdoor/indoor) and chickens, and honestly, it seems pretty unlikely. If a feline has the ability to enter your run, so can threatening predators.

You say there weren't many scattered feathers? Nothing eaten to a noticeable degree?

So very sorry for your losses.

~Alex

 

[Ginmary]

I am a cat person and hate to say it but if the only place on the hen was under the neck, then it was very possibly the cat. That is how they kill, blocking the airway. A hawk or owl would tear up the back or head of the hen. It wouldn't have first and only access to the underside of the neck. A weasel would have to show where he got in. Would a weasel be able to climb over?

 

[Carchick]

So here's where it happened and I take it back about the feathers, there were some.

Other picture shows the outside coop areas. You'll also see the enclosed small section of each coop.

 

[MissChick@dee]

So sorry for your loss.
Without wire across the top anything could get in. A raptor. A coon (easy to climb) or just pull a chicken thru the gap by the gates.

 

[Carchick]

Oh and both attacks occurred during the day, early afternoon.

 

[aart]

So here's where it happened and I take it back about the feathers...…

View attachment 1621207

Feathers are outside the run fencing?

Fence doesn't look 10'....probably 6'?
Not that it really matters.

 

[Carchick]

Also since I've been hung up in the house due to surgery, I asked my husband once again what he saw. He said the most recent one, the whole neck was stripped. The previous one was a bite on the top, on the shoulder but it did not look like anything was eaten.

 

[Carchick]

Feathers are outside the run fencing?

Fence doesn't look 10'....probably 6'?
Not that it really matters.

Ah, you're right! It is 6' feet high! The feathers you see are outside the enclosed area but inside the other part of the chicken run that does not have a top over it. It's the bottom picture.