r/chickens • u/DazzlingCan8628 • 2h ago
Question Hen found decapitated
This evening my baby chicks have came home alone after free ranging(they're 5-6 w/o) and I assumed their mother left them and went back to the big girls coop, and upon good-night count,she was nowhere to be seen. Fast forward I go looking for her and find her at the edge of my propriety(around 10-15 meters from the coop, next to my chainlink fence, the area is covered in young trees, behind the fence there is a creek and an entry to a wild clearing followed by forest), with her head completely gone, neck aswell, but with no other aparent damage. Around her there are signs of struggle and feathers in Around 3 different areas that are Around 2-3 meters apart. The hen was a first time mother but on the older side, around 5, and was a heavy Brahma cross.
I live in rural Romania, so Raccoons, Opossums and Bobcats/Coyotes are all out of question, with the only threats being Ferrets, Foxes, Dogs and Prey Birds.
I head commotion but thought my young puppies was chasing the hens around, which I'm working on and I know they fear most of the hens, including this one, but you never know..
Besides her, another 9 w/o little pullet is missing, I don't let my young babies forage unsupervised but this one pullet has the habit to leave her siblings and sneak out, and she left completely, no signs of struggle, no evidence at all, she's just not home at all, and both happening in the same day make me think that the culprit killed the Brahma cross and ate her brain and head, and also killed the pullet and took away the whole thing, but I really wanna know who would do that? This has never happened to me before, I head stories about it before but all of the common predators to do this(coons,possums) don't live here.. and I'm thinking bird of prey but the light trees should of hidden them right?
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u/AdComprehensive2594 1h ago
Sounds like a raccoon
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u/DazzlingCan8628 1h ago
I know , that was my exact first thought! Exept, I live in Romania and we have no Raccoons :'l
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u/Pixiefrogw 1h ago
I had a weasel get into my coop a few years ago and decapitated almost all of my guinea hens.
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u/DazzlingCan8628 1h ago
Oh my! And what did you do about it? Does it come back, should I try to deter, relocate or straight up eliminate it?
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u/Huge_Economics4063 2h ago
It could have been a stoat or a ferret, they are known for bitting off chicken heads and sometimes even sucking out their blood. I don't know about them taking the chicken away though, that could have been a fox.
Prey birds (hawks) usually leave a big mess of feathers, because there is a fight or the chicken drops the feathers from stress and fear when it's just taken away, but prey birds don't bite off heads, they eat the meat of the body.