Skunks feed on both plant and animal material hence omnivorous. Their preferred favourite are insects which include bees, grasshoppers, beetles and crickets. Otherwise, when these foods are not available, they will eat fruits, nuts, vegetable, garbage, and pet food. Skunks will kill rats, mice, rabbits, birds and other small mammals to make a meal out of them. As for poultry, in this case chicken, skunks will not eat more than two and this usually comes as a last resort, which is if they are really starving and there are no other options. It is common for skunks to kill chicken so that they can feed on their eggs. It is however rare to find skunks attacking chicken.



Though skunks are a danger to chicken, they are not serious chicken predators. The below mentioned animals will not hesitate to make chicken their prey.

Snakes- they will swallow the chicken whole, not leaving the eggs behind.

Weasels- they kill chicken by either biting through their skull, upper neck or jugular vein. After killing as many as they can, they only eat the heads leaving behind the body. As for the eggs, weasels will make a small opening at the end and eat the yolk.

Badgers- they kill and eat chicken and when they are full, they bury some few parts in holes that resemble their dens.

The black and the grizzly bears- killing chicken is by biting the neck or by simply slapping them. They however don’t the entire chicken, they prefer the heart the liver and the fleshy parts leaving the intestines and sometimes the skin.

Coyotes-they kill by biting the thorax and at times they attack on the side and drag the chicken before feasting on it.

Cats- not all domestic cats are as innocent as they look. They kill by biting and suffocating the chicken by the neck and will only release when sure it is dead. They will then eat most of the chicken apart from small pieces of skin attached to the feathers and the feathers.

The Red and the Grey foxes- they go for the throat but with multiple bites to the neck and back, the kill the chicken before carrying it to its den to eat. Foxes rarely feed on their prey at the killing location, unless if it is too heavy to carry or drag to their dens. They make small openings on eggs; just enough to allow them lick out the yolk.

Opossums- unlike weasels, opossums kill chicken one at time, wounding the chicken by scratching and tearing through their flesh.

Raccoons- they attack chicken houses and take more than one chicken in one night. They often take the chicken at a distant place to eat them, usually close to a water source. Same applies for the eggs.

Read the How to get rid of skunks page for helpful information and to learn more about Do skunks attack chicken?

Do skunks attack chicken?