Who is my killer?

[browning6]

I turned the chickens out at 7 this morning as usual. And my wife went out at about noon to find a ton of feathers on the ground. We are new to the chickens so she thought somebody was moulting. When I got home I noticed the feather pattern were from the same hen and the 8 week old chick from the hen is gone. The feathers are spread from inside the coop to about ten feet outside the coop.

She isn't torn up just missing a ton of feathers from her back chest and wings.

So what got my little barnevelder chick? I live in the Central Valley of ca, out in the country. I know we have coons, opossum, hawks, owls, coyotes and foxes around but I have never seen them. There is a big Tom cat but I rarely see him.

My guess is something got the chick and the hen came in defense and lost some feathers but got away.

Any ideas?

 

[featherz]

ton of feathers on the ground to me generally means hawk. When a hawk gets one of mine it looks like a feather bomb went off. =(

 

[redsoxs]

Are there any defensive wounds on the chicken? I would think for a hawk to have been the culprit it would have had to have pinned the chicken down to tear our feathers and there would be some talon punctures???

 

[browning6]

i didn't see any wounds on the hen but all of the feathers seem to be hers. I don't see any of the chicks feathers around. I thought hawk also except some of the feathers are inside the coop! Of course maybe some fell off after she ran in there. I wish now i would have taken a few pictures of the crime seen for you.

Thanks again for the info.
BYC is great for us rookies, keep it up.

Steven