I need help identifying a predator.we've had two chickens killed within the last week. The bodies were relatively untouched. Barely a feather missing. Both kills happened in the evening. Our chickens are free range during the day and cooped up at night. We do have a dog. He has not killed a chicken for almost one year when the girls were new to him. When he did kill them there were feathers everywhere and they were mutilated. These chickens, this week we're not that way. We're trying to give the dog the benefit of the doubt. Since it doesn't follow his usual MO. The chickens were found within 20 feet of the coop, looked like they died a strange but peaceful death.What we've been curious about, is there an illness that can cause a chicken to you have little to no symptoms, still lay regularly, yet fall over dead at any given time? These two chickens were two very different breeds however they came from the same farm. We are just trying to land on something because we're tired of my children crying and crying whenever they lose one of their little chickens. Any words of wisdom out there?
Your correct. Dogs don't kill chickens as much as they like to play pitch and catch with them. However the chicken is dead just the same.