What kind of predator eats just the head and/or guts?

[woodmort]

A weasel will not usually do more than kill the bird by biting the neck and lapping up the blood, if they feed on the carcass they will go for the breast. I've lost birds to both weasels and coons and I'm still voting coon based on you description of what is eaten. Could also be a rat but they generally won't kill more than one bird at a time and usually aren't specific about what they eat. Likewise, a possum doesn't much care what it eats and usually kills a single bird. Coons and weasels are more apt to make multiple kills.

 

[jennh]

Quote:
I caught a possum in my coop just last week. Killed two of my 3 wk old chicks. Ateh the head off the one, the insides out of the other.
Another reason it could be a possum is that they are great climbers, and can get in where others can't get because they can't climb. I have a trap set to get that bugger

Jen

 

[Lbrad7]

My experiences with coons has been that they have eaten the entire freaking bird except the shanks and feet. Everytime I have had losses due to the neck and upper breast being eaten it was a weasle. Next on the list; when I have lost birds with the crop and the bird was hollowed out of its innards, each and everytime it has been a possum. (that is my guess as to what your predator is) When the bird has been killed out in the open in a ring of feathers and it looks like it was just split wide open right down the middle and the breast and innards eaten out 100 percent of the time it has been a hawk..usually a big red tail.

I do think that predators change up their feeding MOs from time to time but those have just been my experiences. Fix up that opening and set a trap.

Good luck to you...sorry for your loss!

 

[iluvsedward]

coon! weasel! coon! weasel! coon! WEASEL! COON!

 

[backyard1]

That happened to me too. I had found the chicken without a head or any guts and the wings torn off when I went up this morning. Where I live, we have foxes and racoons, I think that would be one on of the killers.

 

[Alfleda]

Most likely a raccoon, unless you have coyotes in the area.

 

[Miztruder]

Years ago my husband and I had chickens and the same thing happened to them and we discovered that it was an owl. When we bought more chickens we decided to cover their play area with poultry wire.

 

[shortgrass]

coon! weasel! coon! weasel! coon! WEASEL! COON!  /img/smilies/lol.png

ROFL

X2!

but actually, coons almost HAVE to wash their food, si my vote goes to....

Weasel!!!

 

[shrvzqz]

Possums will do exactly that! We were up at 4:00 AM this morning finally catching a small young possum in my chicken coop. I have slowly been loosing my chickens one at a time with the guts eaten out and sometimes the heads would be torn off and partially eaten. It was coming over the top through a small opening where the roof joins the coop. It will never eat another chicken!!!!! If you hear your chicken stirring in the middle of the night go out quietly don't turn on lights until you get to the chicken coop then shine your flashlight at the top of the coop you will likely find the predator. I hope it was only one of them.

 

[keesmom]

Do you have fishers? Recently we had one tear back some fencing to get into the duck pen. Two headless ducks the next morning.