The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: ladyK on February 03, 2014, 05:52:59 pm
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Found one of my hens dead and ravaged this afternoon :'(
Is there any way to tell the likelihood of having been killed by a fox or other animal?
Her neck, crop and breast were torn open and a big chunk of breast missing, but nothing else appears bitten or bruised, the head is still on and intact. Found her by the hedge in the field where they often roam, a few scattered feathers but not a lot, she had her feathers still intact apart from where she was torn open. It must have happened around 2.30/3pm, so it was broad daylight...
Does this sound like a fox?
I found one hen unharmed hiding in the hedge, but two more hens are still missing - it is dark now and they haven't returned to the coop. No further signs of struggle anywhere like piles of feathers - maybe they are hiding somewhere in shock?
Grateful for any ideas from you more experienced people.
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Sorry to hear this :bouquet:
And I hope your other girls are indeed hiding somewhere safe and will reappear in due course :hug:
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Sorry to hear that.
It sounds like it could be foxes.
I saw this picture a couple of weeks ago on the BBC website - just shows how much front and guts they have.
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Could be a polecat or mink?
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MF - to be honest, I have no idea, but I have not heard of either of those to be a problem around here.
Never seen a fox around here either, just a couple of times in a whole year have caught a whiff of fox about half a mile away up in the woods.
OH thought he smelt something at the top of our drive a couple of weeks ago, so maybe they have been closing in.
But I then thought they don't usually attack in broad daylight, and if the daytime attach was due to being hungry he really didn't eat that much off the poor bird...
Ironically when I first saw the ginger heap up on the slope my first thought was, it's a dead fox... :(
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Sounds like a dog. A fox would take the head off first as they kill by shaking the neck, if it is an individual chicken. But if a fox attacked a lot it would just kill them all and leave them completely intact. Then go back to one. I think it is a dog attack and all the other chickens have scattered.
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Thankfully the 2 missing hens have re-appeared, seemingly unharmed - very I'm grateful for that.
But they definitely are very subdued and refused to leave the coop this morning so they must all gotten quite a fright.
One has difficulty breathing (breathing with an open beak and heaving chest, but doesn't appear injured) - is this just the shock? Has any of you experienced this?
In theory it could have been a dog (there is a pack of lurchers in the neighbourhood that have killed a cat before - their owner 'walks' them with him driving his car and them loose running after it... but I found the dead hen inside our fenced field and the scattered feathers are inside as well. I think it's unlikely a dog could have gotten through the fence but I will check that again. (My dog does not touch the chickens and at the time in question he was out on a walk with me anyway.)
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Goshawk.
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I've just seen this, my thoughts were some bird of prey as well.
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As already said probably not a fox as they generally take head off leave bird and come back for it.
Badgers usually take head off and either leave the bird or take it away completely.
So I agree dog or bird of prey
New job for the man of the house, first pee in the morning around the chicken house then over the coming weeks spread out a bit, once a week outside the chicken house. IT MARKS YOUR TERRITORY Im told don't wee if you ate asparagus the night before.
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The type of injury sounds like the same I have seen with my hens after a buzzard attack.
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Fox, dog, cat, bird of prey, died and then scavenged by crows etc. Unless you can find some evidence like paw prints or a witness you'll never know.
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Buzzard?
I was wondering about at the weekend round the back of one of our barns...spotted a buzzard tucking into a pigeon, went to grab my camera, gone by the time I got back!
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I don't think it was a fox either. In my (all too frequent) experience of fox attacks, they kill cleanly and take one or more away. I've never found all my birds after a fox has been, usually some are totally missing, some dead with small puncture marks on breast, legs or neck and some come back fine after a day or two of hiding.
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Interesting ideas about the buzzard - I have certainly seen some around, and the neighbouring farm had some hens taken by a bird last year. Though - would a bird of pray not damage the back of the bird as it swoops down? My hen had no sign of injury on her back.
Since the attack I have spoken to one farmer's wife who thought it could be mink - I think someone here mentioned that too, but I din't realise at the time that these were around here.
As there hasn't been another attack I have discounted fox in the meantime - a relief!
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If it was mink there would be a hole in the back of the head/neck - we have pictures if it would help for future identification as we had a mink attack just after we moved here (OH got the mink, but only after she had killed 2 hens). A good indication is to look at the feathers that were removed, a bird of prey will pluck, often starting with breast, whereas a fox would 'snip' them off usually leaving a pile of feathers decoratively (!!) surrounding the remains of a carcass. A fox would only leave something behind if disturbed and dogs often go for the bottom end first. It does sound more like a bird of prey.
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I deal with hundreds of dead poultry (effectively) each year, killed by buzzards and goshawks. What you tend to find, is they hit them, and you get a small puff of feathers, and then they sit on the carcass and pluck the chest feathers and strip the meat from the breast bone.
Owls tend to remove and eat the heads.
Also get to see raven kills, and the occasional sparrow hawk has a go, but not often.
With mink (and stoats etc) you do tend to get a pair of holes in the back of the skull of neck.
I do get the joy of identifying dead birds and what's killed them way way more than i'd like!
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Does a fox usually leave mist of the carcass? I had a hen killed last week and there was just a pile of feathers left. I assumed it was a fox as there are loads around here, but there are also lots of birds of prey.
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i would be more inclined to lean towards it being a badger we had ducks that went with same symptoms and i assumed it was a fox and set up a humane trap, when checked in the morning there was a rather p!55ed off badger so with some fuss that one was released further down the garden ( hopefully not something i'll have to do again :D)