Need predator help

[freedomfrom4]

What kills a perfectly good 9 month old roost in the middle of the day and eats its head?

My kids pet rooster was alive yesterday midmorning and found dead yesterday afternoon. He was completly free range and it looks like only the head was eaten. He was found about 10 feet away froom the chicken pen under his tree he likes that is in a thick brushy area..

[fishhead]

Sounds like an owl or maybe hawk.

I once had something kill a young canada goose on my farm during the daytime. It ate a hole all the way through the head from one side to the other and nothing else. I'm pretty sure it was a hawk.

Our owls are nesting right now and we can hear them calling throughout the day so they are active.

[Jennifer L.]

A fox will also only eat the head and down the neck if the bird is too big to carry away. But generally they can handle a chicken if it's not huge. I lost a bunch of turkey hens a month ago and a few chickens at the same time (night attack in a barn), and the chickens were all taken away and the turkey hens were missing their heads on most of them. I put a game camera in the barn with one of the dead turkey hens and it took pictures of two foxes the next night.

Foxes can hit in the daytime, although they really shine at night attacks. So not likely but possible, especially when you say it's a brushy area.

Jennifer