OK,what am I dealing with here in my hen house:

[hedgehog]

3. Killing skunks takes nerve and a strong stomach - at least around here a skunk releases its

scent when it dies. I had a sick skunk in the chicken house some years back, and the county sent someone out to shoot it because there was a high incidence of rabies at the time. We had to air out the chicken house very thoroughly after that!

I had assumed that the animal had killed the first hen, but she was the same age as the other, so it might have been opportunistic. Most of the hens sleep high up on the roost rather than on the floor. I have some younger hens who are sleeping on the floor - i hope they learn to roost pretty soon!