What's eating my birds?

[dekel18042]

All evidence reported reads like an owl. To differentiate between owl and raccoon, look at feathers still attached to body and close to where predator actually fed. The owl will leave feathers in that area clean and dry. The raccoon will leave feathers in the same are with a wet slobbery look. Raccoon will bite through a lot of bones leaving what look like shards while the owl will pick bones clean of tissue and some times eat the bones whole. Owl, like a hawk, will cleanly pick muscle away from neck vertebrate while raccoon will often chew right through bone.

Raccoon will not hesitate to make multiple kills if victims close together. Owl usually will kill only one.


Surprisingly, you can hear both critters when they are eating a carcass from some distance. Great-horned owl will snap tendons and ligaments as it feeds. Exception for owl breaking bones involves those that are flat like in the breast and back supporting flight muscles of the chicken.

The only thing that throws me off on an owl is, if I am picturing this right, some birds are in the coop and those appear to have been safe, while those under the coop are either killed and dragged out or dragged out then killed. In this case the predator would (in my mind) be going under the coop. I always think of an owl swooping down, not walking under something unless the coop is high enough off the ground for him to swoop under. The cam should be interesting and hope it gives an answer.

 

[centrarchid]

Great-horned Owls I deal with walk on ground a lot while hunting. The are as bad as raccoons when come to reaching through pen wire to grab a victim. They will come in for a ground approach if they can here victims making contact calls. If another kill, then I suggest tying it done in place found and setting up camera on it. Owl will come back to kill like clockwork to finish before making another. When we keep removing carcass, that sets stage for owl to make more kills eating only a little of each.



I would not rule out raccoon either. Was giving characteristics of kill sites that can be useful for ID or predator.

 

[aart]

I was thinking mostly owl......except for carcass removed from live trap without setting it off, that could be raccoon.

 

[Weehopper]

Any strands of hair caught on top of the fence?

 

[emilyweck]

Update: nothing in live trap last night. Locked all chickens in the coop so no more damage. We had ice storms yesterday so accessing our game camera that's set up in the forest behind the house was not smart as trees were dropping and branches were snapping. Hubby is getting it today, though. But the remaining spine of the duck that was picked clean was even more chewed on this morning and more scat was found at the base of the corner fence post outside the run.

 

[aart]

Pics of scat, with a coin for scale, can help ID the 'dumper'......tho it's not necessarily your predator.

 

[Weehopper]

You will have to scroll down past the larger predators, but here is a very helpful site:

http://icwdm.org/inspection/livestock.aspx