Do raccoons kill in the day time?

[ruthraf]

Today I found one of our two chickens dead in the run under the coop. Her crop was open and her chest muscles exposed. The coop is inside a 6 foot fence, inside an electric fence (not turned on at the time of the incident) and the whole thing is inside a bigger 6 foot fence that goes around our yard. There were no areas where an animal dug under. Our other hen was inside the coop with some scratches on her comb, but otherwise unharmed. It happened some time between 10am and 1pm. I have never worried about them during the middle of the day inside the fence before, so this a whole new ball game. It seems like a raccoon attack to me and I am worried that is could be a rabid raccoon. It doesn't seem like a hawk would go inside the run and under the coop. Any thoughts?

 

[123RedBeard]

Any critter will eat when it is hungry!

While they prefer nights and evenings ... As less of a chance of a human encounter ... And some prey animals sleep at night too ... If they are hungry, they will be looking for "opportunities"!

 

[BBQJOE]

Raccoons are ferocious nasty creatures. I suggest live traps or fast traveling lead. Once they start, they won't stop until your flock is gone.

 

[thomasboyle]

Are you sure it was a raccoon? Foxes and bobcat can easily clear fences, and they hunt during the day.

 

[Folly's place]

Electric fencing needs to be on to work, and a bird in a small run can be trapped. Many predators climb fences very easily. Mary

 

[ruthraf]

We usually let them free range in our bigger non electric fence during the day when we are here. I felt pretty safe because our two dogs usually bark at any commotion going on outside. Now we need a new plan! Definitely keeping the electric fence on is a good start! I am planning to keep our lonely chicken in the coop/run for at least a week with the fence on. Hopefully whatever it was will come back and get shocked and not come back again.

 

[ruthraf]

Thanks to everyone for your replies! I am definitely not sure that it was a raccoon. I thought a fox or bobcat would leave less of the bird behind, but since we were home at the time, it could have gotten scared off. Very disappointing because I thought we had a pretty good system in place. I guess you can never be too safe.

 

[centrarchid]

Too little information to go by here. Could even have been a raptor.