What would remove only the head?

[Bec]

I lost one of muck and he was found with no head and very little body damage...just a little mark on his back. What would do that??

 

[Cara]

An owl or raccoon.

 

[Bec]

Oh, hmmm....could have been either of those. Why just the head?

 

[buddy#2]

Racoons have been known to reach through a fence or hole and grab the chicken by the head and remove it. Don't know why. Other animals will eat only the insides of the chicken and not the meat. Guess it depends on what they hungry for

 

[soonerdog]

By just eating the head off, to me it sounds like an animal that is mainly out for a quick meal of blood. The head is the closest to the juglar veins and to remove it gives the quickest source of a blood meal. Hope you're able to trap the varmit causing you this grief.

 

[PunkinPeep]

it may also have been - thinking of raccoons here - the only part of the body he could pull through the fence. assuming they were in a fenced run when this happened. so sorry for you. i hate raccoons!

 

[Mahonri]

Raccoon.

 

[crazyhen]

weasels will eat only the head. Hope you catch the critter. Gloria Jean

 

[SallyF]

We had free-ranging chickens in our neighborhood in SC, and I found two dead ones in my yard one time, with heads/necks gone. I was told that owls typically did that.

 

[Bec]

This particular duck and my goose freerange all the time and have for 4 years, well we have had him for 3. But we have never had a problem here.

It just puzzled me that just the head was missing! The rest of him was pretty much fine other than a few marks on his back.