Would a hawk do this?

[SeaSea47]

I lost one of my hens today to a predator, and I'm wondering if anyone might have any clues as to what did it. I don't have a picture, but whatever it was ripped her head almost completely off and plucked many of her feathers, but there was no other damage to her body. And the other chickens were unharmed. Only one of them seemed to be scared to come out of hiding afterward. Even my two roosters who are great predator lookouts didn't seem phased. In the past, when a predator has gotten one of my chickens, the others get really nervous.

The thing is, it almost 100% had to be a hawk or other similar bird of prey, but I didn't think that would sit there and pluck/decapitate?

We also have raccoons and foxes, but they haven't really been out lately though I know they will be soon and I would think they'd go after the others too or at least scare them. One of my neighbor's dogs was apparently on the loose today, so that's also a possibility, but that dog is super mean and I don't feel like it would have stopped at one. It also happened pretty fast as they are monitored about 90% of the time they're out.

 

[Chookchicken]

Falcons pluck and behead they’re prey before they take them to their nest. I’m am not sure about hawks, but I assume they would do the same or something similar. The predator is very likely to return for more food. You should keep your chickens in a predator proof run for the next week until it is safe for them to come out.

 

[SeaSea47]

Falcons pluck and behead they’re prey before they take them to their nest. I’m am not sure about hawks, but I assume they would do the same or something similar. The predator is very likely to return for more food. You should keep your chickens in a predator proof run for the next week until it is safe for them to come out.

Thanks! I had no idea they did that. Now, I'm wondering if we have falcons around. Yeah, they'll be put up for a bit. In 6+ years I've never had issues with aerial predators. I've only lost them to a fox/coyote in the past. I've never had roosters before either, and I'm hoping my boys will help with that in the future - this particular hen liked to stay on her own a lot, so I'm not at all surprised she was the one killed. Thanks again!

 

[cmom]

Owl

 

[SeaSea47]

Owl

I wondered about that. I'm hearing a lot of them lately.

 

[cmom]

I had an owl kill several of my birds. It went through some crappy netting I had put up because I didn't have quite enough. I put up some good netting and caught it accidentally and got it in a cage and a wildlife rescue came and got it.

 

[cmom]

The last picture is of it going through the netting.

 

[DoveChick09]

My fiance says Fisher Cats are good for leaving behind a headless body. I didn't even know we had them here, I had to check. He was right.

 

[McChooky]

Nothing plucks the feathers off a bird except a bird of prey to my knowledge.The smaller birds of prey have to tear the flesh into small enough pieces to be carried back to their nest. They can't carry an adult chicken.They'll often return the following day to carry remnants of the carcass .Its best to bury the bodies any chickens they kill so they can't return to eat on it. I'm sorry for your loss!