Lost two of my girls in broad daylight yesterday. The other two do NOT want to be kept in an enclosure. What do I do?

[McChooky]

Mine have only been out once since November but I plan on letting them out a couple hours so I clean their coop next week (the sunniest clear day ) Predators watch us and know our routine so try to be unpredictable when you free range

 

[catballou]

I'm posting this for advice but also just to lament the loss of my Prairie Bluebell and Production Red. I did not know how absolutely devastated I would be. The red especially (named Red aka the Colonel) was the sweetest bird. She would run up and greet my husband when he got home from work. She would run up to my kids for treats. She would let me put her in my lap and pet her. It feels like I've lost my dogs. So if anyone has any therapeutic advice outside of predation advice then I will take it.

Back to the predators. My girls started with me on a quarter acre and we moved twice before settling on 2.5 acres in the country. We're in rural Florida. They have always been allowed to free range, and I've never had issues with them straying past the property line. I also have three ducks that free range, three goats on ~an acre and some chicks and keets that are kept in a fully enclosed run (they're only about a month). Yesterday was a cool day. I had the windows and doors open and spent a lot of time outside... but about 2 PM I walked the property looking for my girls and found a large amount of Red's feathers. No blood. I followed the trail all the way to the property line. My husband came home and went out into the brush and followed the trail another 200 yards or so and continued to find feathers but no blood and no predator, only boar scat. We couldn't find any trace of the Bluebell but my guess is she is gone as well. The other two girls were hiding in the bushes on the side of the house.

I know we have coyotes, boar, raccoons, owls, hawks, and have heard of (but not seen) bobcats, bears, and panthers. I have no idea what took our girls mid-property in the middle of the day and carried them back through the dense brush.

My other two girls (a Calico Princess and another Bluebell) do NOT want to be in an enclosure. I'd built the Ana White run for the ducks a while back and am keeping them in there during the day (all birds sleep in tight enclosures at night, I'm not worried about nighttime). But they hate it. They have never been cooped up. I'm 50/50 on wanting to let them free range and dealing with the potential for predators vs. keeping them locked up but being miserable.

I'm looking at fencing and some Pyrenees guard dogs but that obviously takes time and money. Does anyone have suggestions? Can I assume whatever took the girls will be back looking for an easy meal?

If you don't keep then in a safe pen, you will lose them.
I had 10 beautiful hens last year. I have 3 now. I only let them out at 6 pm after the hawks quit flying, but tonight I lost my sweet calico princess. They will be locked up the rest of their lives now. I feel horrible. I just wanted them to get some grass.

 

[McChooky]

If you don't keep then in a safe pen, you will lose them.
I had 10 beautiful hens last year. I have 3 now. I only let them out at 6 pm after the hawks quit flying, but tonight I lost my sweet calico princess. They will be locked up the rest of their lives now. I feel horrible. I just wanted them to get some grass.

Since I lost 2 my flock is afraid to leave the coop