What took my hen?

[rosemary10]

Hey everyone,
So the other day I came home from work and found a bunch of feathers in three distinct spots. A little further in the woods I found one of my larger hens dead. Then I did an inventory check and realized I was missing my little mallard. I left my hen in the live trap thinking something might come back for it but nothing has. What do you think it could have been, and are they safe to free range again?
Thanks in advance!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Sounds like a Fox or coyote to me, although generally they eat them. When birds aren't eaten, just killed it's usually dogs. Any wandering neighbor dogs around?

 

[50-45-1]

Sorry you are missing birds.
Is your fock locked up securley at night while roosting?
Are you sure its a daytime preditor?
I would not think they are safe to free range, as once something finds a source of an easy meal they keep returning.
A fox or coyote would have taken the carcas with them.
A racoon or possum would have eaten the bird where it was and not moved it to the woods.
If the body was malled and not eaten it does sound like dog.

 

[rosemary10]

Sorry you are missing birds.
Is your fock locked up securley at night while roosting?
Are you sure its a daytime preditor?
I would not think they are safe to free range, as once something finds a source of an easy meal they keep returning.
A fox or coyote would have taken the carcas with them.
A racoon or possum would have eaten the bird where it was and not moved it to the woods.
If the body was malled and not eaten it does sound like dog.

We don't have any roaming dogs around but I had a theory which might be completely wrong...
There has been a small little falcon hanging out in the mornings and evenings around the coop and usually once it sees me it flies away, but I'm thinking maybe she tried taking my big hen and realized that she was too heavy and then went for something smaller like my mallard? Does that seem completely wrong? The only feathers are from my hen which makes me think my mallard was picked up with no fight what-so-ever which is really sad to think about.

Anyways, they do get locked up securely at night and I leave them out around 8 in the morning and put them back at 8 in the evening. There was only one puncture wound on my chicken hen and like I said nothing came back for it...

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My hawk killed birds weren't moved. The hawk returned to eat the bird later. Throats and chest generally get opened.

Piles of feathers in multiple spots is generally a predator adjusting it's grip on the chicken, so usually that means a canine, or feline.

 

[MykaMom]

I had a mystery attack that killed my roo and scattered the flock from my fenced back yard to the other side of a wood lot across the street. I found one hen hiding under a neighbor's fir tree. I couldn't find my favorite hen, a barred rock named Mamacita. Eventually found her 1/4 mile away, behind a neighbor's pole barn. She was alive but had a very large hole penetrating into the body cavity. It was a fatal wound. I never discovered for certain what got them. Whatever it was, I was home and had 4 dogs: none of us heard a sound. It was early afternoon on a cold day in January. It may have been an eagle or hawk, we have a lot of Raptors here as well as many other predators. Time of day and year limits the possibilities.