Who Was the Culprit?

[aart]

Nice story ...and good that you realize it was bit of fun fantasy.
Only secure coops and runs will keep your birds totally safe from predators

 

[jvls1942]

hawks come in many sizes. small to large.
a cat can easily kill a full grown chicken..
a small hawk can kill a chicken, but unlikely to carry it off as a large hawk could.
this kill sounds like small hawk to me..

 

[55fingers]

I've heard you can get those plastic hawk and owl "decoys" and place them around your coop and it might ward off any actual flying predators. I don't know if it works for sure though

 

[Alexandra33]

I, too, think a hawk is your likely predator. These feathered menaces seem to be a terrible threat during winter months, especially.

No, your neighbor's cat isn't nearly as suspect.....same goes for the dogs. The latter usually kills multiple birds at a time, from my understanding, while the former prefers smaller prey.

"Stalking" isn't always a feline hunting behavior, by the way. This is also the manner in which they play. My cats have always "stalked" the flock, usually right before ambushing. It's quite obvious a meal isn't on their minds.

~Alex

 

[aart]

I've heard you can get those plastic hawk and owl "decoys" and place them around your coop and it might ward off any actual flying predators. I don't know if it works for sure though

 

[Debby in france]

Hi All -
Up until today - I have not lost a single chicken to a predator. Today - I cam home to a dead 8 month old hen. There are a lot of feathers - all of them missing from her neck. Her head was "pecked up" (ewwee) and the rest of her was in tact. When I picked her up to prepare to bury her - she was still flexible - and wasn't stone cold. So she hadn't been dead long. I was gone from the house about 3 hours so I wasn't home to see/hear anything.

Based on this, can anyone guess what may have killed her? I've never seen any of my dogs go after her and to my knowledge my MIL hadn't let any of them out. Although her truthfulness might not be on the up and up since there is a dead chicken involved. The neighbors cat is often stalking the yard and over by the coop and run - but I wondered if that cat would actually be able to take one down. Could it?

It's a terrible loss - she was one of the ones I hatched and had just started laying.

Firstly can I say how terrible for you to find her like that. I know how you feel. I found Ingrid last week minus her head. The culprit was a bird of prey as I believe was your culprit.
Not much to do really but I have bourght some bird scarer tape and hung it all over the place, also shiny windmills that face upwards and cds from the trees.
If anyone has any other suggestions ???

 

[StonyCreekFarm]

Hi All -
Up until today - I have not lost a single chicken to a predator. Today - I cam home to a dead 8 month old hen. There are a lot of feathers - all of them missing from her neck. Her head was "pecked up" (ewwee) and the rest of her was in tact. When I picked her up to prepare to bury her - she was still flexible - and wasn't stone cold. So she hadn't been dead long. I was gone from the house about 3 hours so I wasn't home to see/hear anything.

Based on this, can anyone guess what may have killed her? I've never seen any of my dogs go after her and to my knowledge my MIL hadn't let any of them out. Although her truthfulness might not be on the up and up since there is a dead chicken involved. The neighbors cat is often stalking the yard and over by the coop and run - but I wondered if that cat would actually be able to take one down. Could it?

It's a terrible loss - she was one of the ones I hatched and had just started laying.

When we first bought our farm, we inherited 7 chickens... And knew 0 about them! The coop/run they were in was terrible with holes all over the place. Racoons picked them off one by one in much the same fashion that you described and sometimes would rip the heads clean off... Since we didn't live here full time yet, the other chickens would peck at and eat the bodies. I almost didn't buy any new chicks because of this situation. Do you have racoons??

 

[55fingers]

nevermind that idea

 

[jvls1942]

nevermind that idea

OK, now on to plan B

 

[cmom]

Do you have a game camera you can put up? Most likely the critter will be back.