Rooster with no head... Name that predator

[RossAcres]

The other day I found my oldest and smallest rooster (OEGB) dead with his head missing. Let me explain what the area looks like. There is a very small barn. Around the barn are runs, open area, duck coops, etc. Around all of that, is an electric fence. The fence has 5 hot wires, the first one being about 4-5 inches off the ground. Back to the barn. There has been a hole dug into the ground since I moved my birds there. I thought is was from mice, so I set traps and got most of them. Well, I found my poor rooster headless and in the hole under the barn. Mind you, whatever got him had to go through the electric fence, since the electric fence goes all the way around the barn. I also noticed that the eggs I had laid out were neatly craked and eaten. So I set 4 live traps. Two are small, two are large. I put one lvie trap in the barn exactly where I found my rooster. I baited it with cat food juice and whole eggs. I set another one with the headless rooster's body as bait. The rest were baited with wet cat food. Well, yesterday I checked the traps and the one I set where I found the body had trapped something. Mind you, this trap is squirrel size because I thought there may be a mink. Well, it had the teeny tiniest baby possum in it. It was the size of a squirrel. I was so surprised to see such a small critter.
Now, what do y'all think? Is this the murderer of my rooster? Or was he just framed? Was his mission solely for the eggs? Could he have grabbed my rooster and torn his head off? My experience tells me probably not. But, there are some people out there that swear possums will kill just like raccoons. I think I caught the egg eater, but not the killer. I think the killer is a raccoon. What do you think?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

The raccoon is your killer. There was a family of opossums living under the corner of my barn for the first 3 years we lived here and they were caught on camera taking eggs. They had every opportunity to eat everything from little chicks to the big ones and only ever took the eggs. Even when it is subzero and food was scarce the opossums only took for the eggs. Every single one of our headless chickens were murdered by a raccoon via trail cam footage. I think opossums get framed all too often. Not too mention blood shows up very easily on an opossum fur and you can’t get a head off without blood. If it was the opossum he would be covered in blood. The last coon attack left blood everywhere and even though it was at night you could visibly see blood on the raccoon.

 

[RossAcres]

The raccoon is your killer. There was a family of opossums living under the corner of my barn for the first 3 years we lived here and they were caught on camera taking eggs. They had every opportunity to eat everything from little chicks to the big ones and only ever took the eggs. Even when it is subzero and food was scarce the opossums only took for the eggs. Every single one of our headless chickens were murdered by a raccoon via trail cam footage. I think opossums get framed all too often. Not too mention blood shows up very easily on an opossum fur and you can’t get a head off without blood. If it was the opossum he would be covered in blood. The last coon attack left blood everywhere and even though it was at night you could visibly see blood on the raccoon.

I believe it is a raccoon too. I just have to catch him and figure out how he's getting through a 2 joule fence. I'm hoping I can catch him. I literally caught the hulk of raccoons one time. I heard the trap rattling and by the time I got out there, the darn thing had somehow ripped off one welded bar on the cage and ran off. This was a different property though.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I believe it is a raccoon too. I just have to catch him and figure out how he's getting through a 2 joule fence. I'm hoping I can catch him. I literally caught the hulk of raccoons one time. I heard the trap rattling and by the time I got out there, the darn thing had somehow ripped off one welded bar on the cage and ran off. This was a different property though.

Good luck on trapping the coon they seem to evade traps like no other. I tried here and only caught skunks Now when I see a coon on the trail cam by the coop it means a long night of enjoying the moonlight with a rifle.

 

[RossAcres]

Good luck on trapping the coon they seem to evade traps like no other. I tried here and only caught skunks Now when I see a coon on the trail cam by the coop it means a long night of enjoying the moonlight with a rifle.

The way my area is set up, It's hard to do the sit and wait method. THe barn blocks the view of the coops on that side and vise versa. I've heard that peanut butter on a piece of bread works well. I'll try that this weekend. Or I may just slather an entire peanut butter jar all over the fence so they learn to stay away lol

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Try some dog proof paw traps with a marshmallow. @The Moonshiner recommended them to me when I was having a massacre and I caught 2 of the 3 in a week. The 3rd disappeared until the next summer and I caught him in a live trap. The traps are safe for chickens (unless they're really stupid) so you can put them anywhere.

 

[heatherbell2]

The other day I found my oldest and smallest rooster (OEGB) dead with his head missing. Let me explain what the area looks like. There is a very small barn. Around the barn are runs, open area, duck coops, etc. Around all of that, is an electric fence. The fence has 5 hot wires, the first one being about 4-5 inches off the ground. Back to the barn. There has been a hole dug into the ground since I moved my birds there. I thought is was from mice, so I set traps and got most of them. Well, I found my poor rooster headless and in the hole under the barn. Mind you, whatever got him had to go through the electric fence, since the electric fence goes all the way around the barn. I also noticed that the eggs I had laid out were neatly craked and eaten. So I set 4 live traps. Two are small, two are large. I put one lvie trap in the barn exactly where I found my rooster. I baited it with cat food juice and whole eggs. I set another one with the headless rooster's body as bait. The rest were baited with wet cat food. Well, yesterday I checked the traps and the one I set where I found the body had trapped something. Mind you, this trap is squirrel size because I thought there may be a mink. Well, it had the teeny tiniest baby possum in it. It was the size of a squirrel. I was so surprised to see such a small critter.
Now, what do y'all think? Is this the murderer of my rooster? Or was he just framed? Was his mission solely for the eggs? Could he have grabbed my rooster and torn his head off? My experience tells me probably not. But, there are some people out there that swear possums will kill just like raccoons. I think I caught the egg eater, but not the killer. I think the killer is a raccoon. What do you think?

I agree Raccoon.. they will snatch their heads through the wire & chomp on them.. or anything that they can pull through the wire.. sorry

 

[RossAcres]

I agree Raccoon.. they will snatch their heads through the wire & chomp on them.. or anything that they can pull through the wire.. sorry

This rooster was free range. No wire to pull him through. Something just straight up ate his head and left the body. But I do think it was a raccoon regardless.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

This rooster was free range. No wire to pull him through. Something just straight up ate his head and left the body. But I do think it was a raccoon regardless.

That's how a raccoon ate most of its kills at our property. An owl also could be possible. I've heard they eat the heads

 

[heatherbell2]

This rooster was free range. No wire to pull him through. Something just straight up ate his head and left the body. But I do think it was a raccoon regardless.

Aww snap!! Well poo.. either way it sucks!