Came back from a trip and found the remains of one of our birds in the chicken coop. Trying to see if there are any clues to which predator did this.
Context:
– Chicken coop has a fence around it
-over 10 acres of land
– 100+ chickens free range in/around the coop (they fly outside the fence and go far, but there’s no signs any have died outside fenced area)
– Chicken coop has no doors (it’s unfinished)
– Goats are fenced in a larger free-range pen adjacent to the coop.
– Only 1 chicken was killed, but did notice a baby (1-2yo) goat limping
– known predators: neighbor’s dogs, bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, possums, foxes.
– the chicken’s leg was found 5 yards away and more feathers 10 more yards away
by Arcane_Adagio
7 Comments
Looks like a hawk or other bird of prey initially. Then with body parts found further away, I’m guessing scavengers came in later and grabbed pieces to eat.
Looks like Jim the hawk. He’s a slippery fella
Chupacabra.
Im going to go with racoon. This is some surgical butchering.
Hard to say given that there are multiple suspects around who could have got to the carcass after the fact and picked it clean. Not sure about possums (ours ate a lot of eggs but I never saw them take a bird) but any other animal you listed could do this no problem. Eagle/Hawk too. I’d guess feline or canine if the same animal went after a goat but they might be separate problems. Honestly one bird out of 100 would be a good week for us. My least favorite was a mass event where the first bird was partially eaten and then 10 more were slit open and left otherwise untouched – critter guy told me that might be a raccoon teaching kits how to hunt. Such a waste. All young hens too. Sorry to be a downer just wish I’d known that was possible before the shock of it so thought I’d share. Hang in there.
I’ve seen similar remains after witnessing an owl take a hen. So bird of prey – owl or hawk.
Its the one with the full belly.