What did this?

[bhawk-23]

Came home to this. She was alive at 2:30 pm (camera view)
Found at 5:30 pm
The initial hit was under a hawk net between a privacy fence and large mature pine tree. There is maybe 5’ between them and fully covered by the net.
The body was 2’ away still under the net and a trellis with chicken wire and dormant grapevines.

The initial attack left a huge poof of feathers.
She is picked to the bone. Some of the organs were eaten as well but did not inspect which exact ones.

Thoughts?

 

[sourland]

Scattered feathers and meat stripped from the bones is typical of a raptor attack.

 

[The head hen]

Oh my! I lost an austrlorp late this afternoon, too! It looked alot like the one in the pictures. Abdomen wide open on one side and all the guts gone, bones exposed. Our son found our 7 month old great pyrenese/border collie pups sniffing at it. We have lost 2 this way in the past month, and both were found in the same location near the fence.
Afraid it was the pups, but they are not aggressive with the chickens. Have done a LOT of training with them.

We do have a hawk that stalks the property. My guess is either a hawk or an oppossum.

 

[bhawk-23]

Scattered feathers and meat stripped from the bones is typical of a raptor attack.

A hawk would be my first guess but what about all the netting and trellis cover? How could it have given such a hard hit with the cover and obstacles preventing it from flying downwards?

The netting extends out and the hawk would have to have flown under it for a good 12’.

This was a Sumatra pullet, 20-ish weeks. I thought they were good free ranging birds

 

[bhawk-23]

Oh my! I lost an austrlorp late this afternoon, too! It looked alot like the one in the pictures. Abdomen wide open on one side and all the guts gone, bones exposed. Our son found our 7 month old great pyrenese/border collie pups sniffing at it. We have lost 2 this way in the past month, and both were found in the same location near the fence.
Afraid it was the pups, but they are not aggressive with the chickens. Have done a LOT of training with them.

We do have a hawk that stalks the property. My guess is either a hawk or an oppossum.

My dogs ran to that corner when I let them out and I did not really think much of it. Then I saw my mastiff sitting at alert looking at me. Her look was quite weird so I walked over and found Sumi. My other pup was sniffing the backyard like crazy. My pups know the birds are “mine” and leave them alone but I wonder why she just sat in front of it waiting for me to come over. Weird.

 

[The head hen]

So both of our last 2 losses looked like your hen. These have happened over the last 1.5 - 2 months. Have found the pups at the scene both times, but not sure they are the culprits. Hoping they have just found the hen or disrupted the attack. They are outside with the chickens all the time, so for them to randomly on just 2 isolated occasions decided to eat a chicken doesn't make sense.
They know the chickens are "mine" and to "leave it" alone. Plus, they have low predator drives as a breed.

 

[bhawk-23]

So both of our last 2 losses looked like your hen. These have happened over the last 1.5 - 2 months. Have found the pups at the scene both times, but not sure they are the culprits. Hoping they have just found the hen or disrupted the attack. They are outside with the chickens all the time, so for them to randomly on just 2 isolated occasions decided to eat a chicken doesn't make sense.
They know the chickens are "mine" and to "leave it" alone. Plus, they have low predator drives as a breed.

So your situation sounds like mine. I would think you would have seen/heard the commotion if it was your dogs. I had two Jack Russell’s and unfortunately know that frenzied killing scene all too well. We didn’t have chickens then but I know if we did they probably would have killed them when I was not there.

It was a hawk. Came back this morning for more. I sent the dogs out and they both paused. Only when it took flight did they realize it wasn’t a chicken and gave chase. lol

 

[The head hen]

So your situation sounds like mine. I would think you would have seen/heard the commotion if it was your dogs. I had two Jack Russell’s and unfortunately know that frenzied killing scene all too well. We didn’t have chickens then but I know if we did they probably would have killed them when I was not there.

It was a hawk. Came back this morning for more. I sent the dogs out and they both paused. Only when it took flight did they realize it wasn’t a chicken and gave chase. lol

This is good to know! We do have a hawk that stalks our property and it has tried to get the hens before. Hell, flew right over my head at about 15 ft off the ground once. I am going to hang my shiny, noisy predator tape today!

 

[The head hen]

Interesting update...
Was out hanging reflective predator tape in trees, on fence, etc. Dogs out, let chickens out to free range for a while. I have a young (20 weeks or so) RI red that is HUGE and MEAN! Think rooster big. They were all out foraging around, and she made a loud, long squawk and the rest all went running to the run and coop. As soon as I put some treats out, they all went I to the run to snack.

In for the day after a short stint free ranging.

 

[bhawk-23]

Interesting update...
Was out hanging reflective predator tape in trees, on fence, etc. Dogs out, let chickens out to free range for a while. I have a young (20 weeks or so) RI red that is HUGE and MEAN! Think rooster big. They were all out foraging around, and she made a loud, long squawk and the rest all went running to the run and coop. As soon as I put some treats out, they all went I to the run to snack.

In for the day after a short stint free ranging.

Same here. I went out to busy myself with chores so the girls could stretch out their wings. Took a minute to coax them out and then only a few remained out the whole time. I cannot remember the last time they didn’t free range all day. I’ll change up the routine for a bit and hope the hawk moves on. I’ll do the same for you.