who takes the heads?

[rungirl]

Are you sure it's not just another raccoon that's too smart for your traps? I've had a hen decapitated by a possum also. If it came in the coop at night, that's the most likely. Also minks/weasels will take only the heads and leave the body.

 

[Beekissed]

Since Bald Eagles do eat waterfowl, I'd say a hungry eagle would just as soon stoop on a chicken left out in the open as well. I've found documentation to verify that, so I guess it is a possibility.

 

[Johnn]

stoat or weasel took my hens head

 

[pinkyglory123]

it came back-saw it-red fox.

 

[Barbedwirecat]

Yep, I was thinking fox or coyote. I just had 2 beheaded today and 2 more just left alone, then one left half alive. Mine was a coyote, saw it clear as day. Many things eat heads, best determining factor is to see it with your own eyes.

I'm sorry about your chickens

going through it myself.

 

[pinkyglory123]

They won. I can accept losing an occassional chicken to predation but when they appear to be decimating my flock and leaving them lie I call it quits. I understand the need for an easy meal but I am not running a drive thru here. I am down from 23 to 8. up will go the electric poultry netting which I already had. It was lovely to see the hens foraging on the green and around the barn but at some point it does become unfair to the birds. sigh. The only good thing is that now they will be enclosed I can cease my selection of breeds based on their free range ability and go back to my thirty year love-cochins. Funny butthe one and only cochin I own has survived all the attacks. And the one and only silkie I have is the only survivor of my most recent batch of chicks. silkies cochins and a big electric fence it is. Probably because they rarely do range far. funny

 

[Johnn]

you should trap the predetor and if you dont you should adleastgetchickens which will stand a chance escaping it

 

[cybercat 2]

Quote:
This is inaccurate information. Eagles WILL chase down and eat live chickens and ducks. Look at Internet videos. I have had bald eagles kill three of my birds in the last two weeks and I rescued my Cayuga duck from the talons of a mature eagle as well. My neighbor saw several eagles killing a Mallard by passing it to each other while flying. One released it in midair and another one caught it, then the same thing happened with a third bird. They finally quit playing with it and let it fall to the ground to make sure it was dead. The eagles are nesting about a mile from a river but think that fast food in my pasture is a fine alternative! Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation out there about eagles.

 

[darkmatter]

Owl, last winter:

 

[pinkyglory123]

"you should trap the predetor and if you dont you should adleastgetchickens which will stand a chance escaping it"-johnn

I wish it were that easy-lots of luck trapping coons and possum and cats. shot three fox kits. Unable to catch adult fox. And the chickens I lost were all a result of my search for a exemplary free ranger-lost were three fayoumis-first to go, 3 dark cornish, 3 silver spangled hamburgs, 3 or 4? anconas, then the more usual barnyard birds, two golden laced wyandottes, two EE, one New Hampshire, three or four buff orpingtons. Think that is it. So it does not appear that they type of bird had any effect on when or if they were taken. They were all taken. What do I have left? a silkie, a cochin, a hamburg, a buff orpington and a cornish. Seems just the luck of the draw with a fox. No more free ranging-already have the automatic pullet shut door, up goes the electric and hope springs eternal. At least in the poultry world.