What would kill a chicken like this? pictures

[bocephus]

Found a dead chicken this afternoon, did not see it this morning but I might have just missed it.

Last night my daughter said she had trouble with the chickens running around when she locked up the coop but thought they were all inside. I went out after work at 11pm with a flashlight and didn't see any, again might have missed one. The coop is pretty solid, a newly built 8x16 shed, I know nothing got in there.

If it did happen last night it could have been anything but I think this might have been a day kill. I've been putting a deer cam all over my property. So far we have deer, coyotes and now a raccoon that visits my barn. Another option here are the barn cats, my barn cats are a little on the smaller size, maybe 8lbs. My deer cam picks up nothing during the day. We do have hawks in the area but I've barely seen any so far this year.

Here's the pics. The head was by itself closest to the coop, in a straight line leading to the body there were a lot of feathers. About 30' from the head was the body under the tree, very intact. Pretty much not touched except a missing head and feathers.

 

[Mac14]

I'm so sorry! To me it looks a little like a dog did it. Maybe. Sorry again.

 

[Mac14]

I saw a killed chicken one time and it had been killed by a dog, it had been dragged to a nearby creek and it looked like it had struggled to get away. Yours looks similar to what I saw. Do you have many dogs around?

 

[littleoak]

The only kills I have had like that are by weasels. The other possibility is an owl. The weasel is probably living under your coop. I had a weasel kill seven chickens before I got it. It lived under a chicken house and I found it by following where the heads were left.