WARNING: GRAPHIC PICS!!! HELP!!! Something Killed My Guinea!! Can't Figure Out What...

[RedHawk027]

I think raptor (hawk or owl).

Reasons
1) time of day not typical for raccoon
2) birds plucked without slobbery looking (also not typical of raccoon)
3) Larger bones not consumed as typical of most larger mammals
4) Muscle looks torn from body (raptors do this most)
5) Mammals of raccoon size and larger tend to dissarticulate prey as consumed
6) Coyote / bobcat / fox would cache parts not consumed immediately so not likely any of those

Greetings!
I have to pretty much agree with the above assessment.
Given the time of day, it would appear to be the work of a hawk that was interrupted while feeding. If given time, a hawk will indeed strip the meat right off the bones. There is always the possibility that a vulture or crow worked on the carcass as well since both will take out the eyes.
The possums here tend to eat from the vent and consume the internal organs without much other damage.
The bobcats and coyotes leave very little behind but blood and feathers.
I have found numerous guineas with no other damage but the head and neck missing. I have always assumed the damage was done by owls. However, I had a hawk that liked to come in around 4am and dine when I had an open enclosure. Early riser I guess.
As regards a hawk being a small bird and not consuming a lot of meat at one time; I have red-tails here that approach or exceed 6 feet wingspans. They can pretty much strip a bird in a fairly short amount of time. I have seen two red-tails feeding on the same and adjacent carcasses while two others kept watch in the trees. They are exceedingly efficient predators.
I have many predators around the farm; bobcats, coyotes, possums, raccoons, skunks, numerous varieties of hawks (red-tail and marsh being about the largest I have seen), bald eagles, several varieties of owls (great horned and barred being the largest), feral and domesticated dogs, and probably a few things I haven't seen as of yet. There is over 5,000 acres of timberland wrapped around my farm, so there is no telling what is living out there.
All my fowl are very free ranging during most days and hopefully back in the enclosure at night. I do lose more than I would like.
The cycle of Life.
Take care!
Happy New Year!

 

[mohawkbrian]

cant be a bird of prey as they go for the head with their talons, not the body.

 

[mohawkbrian]

Don't know how accurate this site is.... (I hope it's okay to post a reference to another site in a case like this)... it gives some guidelines about possible chicken predators. Single kill, head eaten it says is hawk.

http://www.freewebs.com/professorchickenspredators/

hawks leave the head, except for of course crushing it. They certainly don't eat it.

 

[mohawkbrian]

It sounds like a fox because they kill by decapitation, leave a pile of feathers and if hungry they will attack during the day and if they attack during the day they will be disturbed and will scarper from the kill and will not take it with them.

 

[XavCas]

I am going to say it was a bird of some sort. A coyote / fox / bobcat would only leave a mess of feathers and eat the whole thing, or store it and eat it later. Either way, you would just see feathers no body and remains.

 

[mohawkbrian]

I am going to say it was a bird of some sort. A coyote / fox / bobcat would only leave a mess of feathers and eat the whole thing, or store it and eat it later. Either way, you would just see feathers no body and remains.

not if it was disturbed. After all the attack happened during the day so quite possible it was.

 

[RedHawk027]

Don't know how accurate this site is.... (I hope it's okay to post a reference to another site in a case like this)... it gives some guidelines about possible chicken predators. Single kill, head eaten it says is hawk.

http://www.freewebs.com/professorchickenspredators/

The site seems to be pretty accurate given my experience. I have no weasels or minks, to my knowledge, in this area.
However, I know that a hawk will not always take the head. I have seen several hawk kills with the head still attached but the carcass was stripped to the bone.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Just curious. Why do y'all think bird of prey, hawk? Thanks!

The reason the others and myself think raptor is that most raptors (like a hawk) are much smaller than they look. It would be almost impossible for say a Red tail Hawk (our largest Hawk) to carry off a grown guinea. All the chicken stealing mammals I can think of have a nice set of sharp dentures. They gnaw, rip, chew, scatter, and break up their victims. The body of your guinea has been picked as clean as a Thanksgiving Turkey. The bones even look to all be there and they look to still be connected. A raptor feeds by stripping flesh off his prey, somewhat like a Native American would jerk meat off a bison to dry it for the winter. This looks like what happened here. This is not something that one would normally see with say a bobcat, or other sharp toothed predator. Besides, a bobcat prefers to dine in private. That means transporting the victim to a quieter and more secluded place, something that a bobcat is very capable of doing.

 

[RedHawk027]

... It would be almost impossible for say a Red tail Hawk (our largest Hawk) to carry off a grown guinea ...

Your statement brought back a memory from the early '80's during my first few years of raising fowl.
I found a still warm deceased guinea out behind the chicken house. I decided to watch it and dispatch the predator. So I sat in the chicken house with the .22 rifle pointed out an opening looking directly over the guinea. After a while, a small hawk landed next to the corpse. It bounced over to it, grabbed it with its talons, and took to flight. Well, sort of ... It managed to basically drag the dead guinea a couple feet. This was repeated several times before the hawk apparently spied me and took off. Or it may have heard me chuckling under my breath.
It could not carry the guinea off, but certainly not for a lack of trying.

 

[mohawkbrian]

The reason this is not a hawk is.as.follows. Hawks never eat the head there would not be those holes in its body as a hawk kills by squeezing the head and the colour of the guinea fowl works.the.sMe.as barred colouring on chickens. It breaks up the shape of.the bird so.a.hawk will not attack.