Does this sound like fox?

[Schism]

I doubt very much it would be a raptor or owl it's quite a common problem, it would be unusual behavior for either of them, and they wouldn't useually start with the head

But it is typical of Mink, Stoat or even polecat to eat the head and leave the carcas. i've heard a lot of similar stories that turnrd out to be one of these

 

[treelore]

its a Tawny owl, i`ve seem then do it loads of times when i`ve been sat in a high seat waiting for a fox.... if the fence was damaged then that opens it up to other things.

 

[poddle]

Thanks for the confirmation Treelore, there seems to certain members here that seem to randomly dispense with others opinions, regardless of what they have witnessed, or for how many years they have spent watching it.

To those "in the know", its clearly a Tawny Owl, others may of course wish to carry on in blissful ignorance, assuming they know better.

Lets keep it to ourselves eh?

 

[tobes01]

Happy to go with the Tawny idea. There are suspects other than foxes - last year we lost our chickens to a badger. Mrs S heard the commotion (I was away on a Woodlore course!) and went out to investigate, opened up the hen house and a badger bolted out. What was left in the house was basically a feathery pate, not really recognisable as chicken...

 

[Schism]

Thanks for the confirmation Treelore, there seems to certain members here that seem to randomly dispense with others opinions, regardless of what they have witnessed, or for how many years they have spent watching it.

To those "in the know", its clearly a Tawny Owl, others may of course wish to carry on in blissful ignorance, assuming they know better.

Lets keep it to ourselves eh?

Not dispenseing anyones idea's its just What I have witnessed on a number of occasions differs!

I've worked with poultry for years and i'm not saying your wrong, we both could be! but in my experience it nearly always turns out to be caused by either mink stoat or polecat.
As for blissful ignorance surely thats a little hypocritical if you too are dismissing what i have spent many years watching!

Set some traps and see what you get

 

[greensurfingbear]

not sure how accurate this is but I heard you check out the feathers - if they are plucked out its a bird of prey if its chewed off its down to a mammal.

 

[JonathanD]

Without seeing pictures of the corpse, it's all just speculation anyway. It could be a number of predators and we'll never know which one without examining visual evidence and seeing the area.

 

[treelore]

It could still be a number of things, like you say schism I could be a polecat,mink,stoat,weasel etc all these animals will in some case just eat the head and leave the rest. i have also seen mink and stoat do this, but normal they come back later and try to take the rest of the carcass away. To help solve this riddle a photo of a body and the area around it would be of great help and the condition and height of the fence...does it have an electric fence? Etc.

i would place live capture traps out or a cheap cctv to narrow things down and then take what ever action needs to be taken.

I am surprised that there are no tracks? So again I would go for a raptor (tawny owl)

If it is a tawny then the only way to scare it off is to put spinners up etc... Or 36grms No.6 shots works well... JOKE!!!


All the best

Treelore

 

[Bothwell_Craig]

not sure how accurate this is but I heard you check out the feathers - if they are plucked out its a bird of prey if its chewed off its down to a mammal.

Thats a pretty good rule of thumb.

I dealt with an incident several years ago where the belief was that badgers were taking young pheasant. Came about because the carcasses were turning up near a local sett.
Needless to say, the local party that had the shoot were not best pleased about the badgers. Problem was that a carcass at the entrance to an active sett is pretty damning evidence.

With a bit of work I was able to locate where the buzzard was sitting and eating the birds and the remains, including feather ends, pointed to the fact that the bird was taking the young pheasants, having his fill and dropping the carcass remains on the ground where broch was then having a gnaw over what was left.

When times are tough, animals tend to do whats necessary and I've witnessed some really strange sites over the years. Rule nothing out.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Could it be a raptor. I doubt it was a fox, a fox would have killed the lot.

Even a very determined fox is going to have trouble killing 20,000 chickens.

 

[locum76]

Even a very determined fox is going to have trouble killing 20,000 chickens.

ha, ha....

 

[Bushwhacker]

Without seeing pictures of the corpse, it's all just speculation anyway. It could be a number of predators and we'll never know which one without examining visual evidence and seeing the area.

Certainly would be ideal but I was not on site and couldn't get any sense whatsoever.
All I was getting was a couple of harpies going on about the poor chicken and being totally adamant that it was a fox 'because that's what foxes do' before harking back to talking about going to the gym and going shopping.:togo:

Anyhow, some brilliant suggestions from everyone and it has answered my question, because rather than establish what it is we can certainly say what it isn't.