Headless Chickens

Trail cam anyone?

Trail cam anyone?

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Beat me to it. This would be the easiest, and first thing to try. Depending on what is killing them, it may be illegal to shoot it. A trail cam will tell you what and when. 

My guess is some kind of weasel....fisher, mink, ferret, stoat etc...They’re the only suspect mentioned that I know of that kill for the fun of it and leave the prey. Skunks, raccoons and birds of prey will take it and eat it. My neighbor had a mink kill a bunch of chickens and leave them, just like your neighbor.

Stoti

I returned home in the middle of the day to find a beheaded chicken, neck stuck in the fence and another with a badly broken leg. Both still inside the pen, no holes, solid bottom. Ran in the house grabbed my 9mm carbine and took the injured bird out of the pen and put it out of its misery. I fired two shots to be thorough, not a quiet gun. I walked away to a distance of less than 250 yds for no more than five minutes to put some tools away and what ended up being a raccoon came back and ran off with twice shot bird. 

My guess is of the weasel family.

I am thinking why would such and such kill and not eat or drag chicken away ? I say it is a cat.

As a small boy I used to chase headless chickens,they didn't get too far.The neighbor chopped the heads off and away they went;I got paid in rats,my gig didn't last long . Mother asked me where did I get all those white rats,I told her I chased chickens for my neighbor,will she went to talk to him,tell him I didn't need anymore rats,,,will then she saw all those headless chicken hanging up,let out a scream,mad as hell..so ended my chicken chasing days,butt wait there is more,,after that the farmer neighbor got me to find lost duck eggs,that was harder work.

Forgive me my brothers,I use any excuse to go back in time.

Try setting a live-catch trap after dark. Bait with sardines, dog food etc. Gotten lots of coons that way, and once, a big grey fox (unusual, because they don’t normally go into a box trap).

Got chickens too. Keeping them alive is hard 

The raccoons here in Nebraska kill chickens for the fun of it. They take the head off and leave the rest behind. They will kill everything in the coop and not eat any of them. I caught one red handed, literally red handed. Took it out with the Hatsan

The raccoons here in Nebraska kill chickens for the fun of it. They take the head off and leave the rest behind. They will kill everything in the coop and not eat any of them. I caught one red handed, literally red handed. Took it out with the Hatsan

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Yes, this. A lot of people don’t realize predators often take way more than just what they need or what they can store and consume later. The phenomenon is called “surplus killing” and is observed with many predatory mammals. Raccoons, weasels/minks, and bobcats are notorious for it. In the case of bobcats, they actually do enjoy eating rotten meat and killing a lot to decay and eat later may be a motivation. But many animals that surplus kill never return to feed on more than one or two of the excess kills. 

I lock up my chickens at night and I run electric wire around the largest coop. 

Yep, my neighbor have the same issue a few times a year and was usually a weasel. Just ate the heads while other chickens were killed with a bite to the head and left to lay. A tenacious little varmint that is known to kill for the fun of it.

I was lucky, no weasels, an occasional raccoon now and then, skunks didn't bother the chickens just helped themselves to the eggs. What played havoc one knight was a bear. Decided to hot wire the coop and ended most issues.