Chickens being picked off one by one

[KentuckyDuckMomma]

Okay, I’ve had chickens for over 2 years now and no issues besides a fox over a year ago taking my rooster. During the day on Sunday, I let my girls out to free range and opened my coop door to see my silkie dead, feathers everywhere. Head and feet and spinal all attached, looked to be ate on. Today, went out to get eggs and found another girl, feathers everywhere, back opened with some insides picked out, slightly ate on. Sounds like it is one of my chickens doing it!

Another color of feathers mixed in but not a lot so I’m not sure if that’s the one doing it or maybe got attacked as well but got away. They’ve never ever done this and I’m not understanding why this would all of a sudden be happening. Their food has not been changed, they don’t go out of their run as often due to the winter weather happening. My only thing would be boredom from sitting inside the coop? Or just an aggressive chicken?

No one is sick, no one was injured before this.

 

[CHlCKEN]

No this is definitely a predator. What you need to do is find out how it’s getting in because it will be back every night for more until its access point is secured or it’s eaten everything available. Can you better explain which parts of the birds were eaten? Photos could also help in determining what did this.

 

[KentuckyDuckMomma]

No this is definitely a predator. What you need to do is find out how it’s getting in because it will be back every night for more until its access point is secured or it’s eaten everything available. Can you better explain which parts of the birds were eaten? Photos could also help in determining what did this.

So my first girl, it was everything besides her feet and head and some organs. My second girl, it just looked like a massive hole in her back and maybe ate on that some. Some organs laying next to her. Her eye was pecked out. And both incidents happened during the day in their coop

 

[StinkyAcres]

Is your coop weasel-proof?

 

[CHlCKEN]

Is your coop weasel-proof?

This

They can cause massive destruction and get in through the smallest of holes. I lost more than half of my entire flock to weasels.

 

[Penpal]

If you have weasels you need hardware cloth, they can get through chicken wire. One weasel can't do that kind of damage, it would have to be a family, but even then I don't think a family could eat that much.

If you have a trap you can find out what it is. Could be the neighbor's cat.

I would poison them. Fly bait in a little milk. Some people use Pepsi, but they are mammals and will drink the milk. It will also kill a cat, so you might kill the neighbor's pet.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Poison should never be the first resort. You can do a lot more damage than you intend or even realize. Improving coop security is the way to go.

 

[SamLockwood]

Okay, I’ve had chickens for over 2 years now and no issues besides a fox over a year ago taking my rooster. During the day on Sunday, I let my girls out to free range and opened my coop door to see my silkie dead, feathers everywhere. Head and feet and spinal all attached, looked to be ate on. Today, went out to get eggs and found another girl, feathers everywhere, back opened with some insides picked out, slightly ate on. Sounds like it is one of my chickens doing it!

Another color of feathers mixed in but not a lot so I’m not sure if that’s the one doing it or maybe got attacked as well but got away. They’ve never ever done this and I’m not understanding why this would all of a sudden be happening. Their food has not been changed, they don’t go out of their run as often due to the winter weather happening. My only thing would be boredom from sitting inside the coop? Or just an aggressive chicken?

No one is sick, no one was injured before this.

Chicken on chicken violence usually doesn't result in outright cannibalism unless they're starving to death, and they either kill each other by blinding (the bird dies of shock later) or snapping the other bird's neck. I've seen chickens do both.

Something is getting in there, likely rats, raccoons, and / or opussums.

They can get into surprisingly small gaps, especially rodents. I've had rats slip through gaps less than 1" wide. Raccoons and Opussums are very good at prying open loose boards, weak doors, and they can slip through gaps as narrow as 2".