1 Hen per night found decapitated in coop with no signs of predator...

[Carols Clucks]

Quote:
If a roosting chicken is w/i reach, a raccoon can pull it over and eat it thru a chain link fence.

They sure can, that was not the issue in this case, my dad had let a scrub plum tree sprout up and grow through the coop wire, it had a zillion trunks so just when you thought you had gotten them all wired up, the raccoon found a different one.

But yes they sure can reach in and grab a chicken and they rarely bother to eat more than a few bites.

 

[noodleroo]

A coon will stick its 'hand' through the wire, and while the chickens are running and freaking out, it will grab one by the head as it runs by and pull its head through. Same thing with feet sometimes. I'd set a live trap...

 

[mominoz]

Same thing happend to us years ago. It was a possum. Caught them in the act after our geese woke us up. That was before I had roofs on my outer wire and didn't close the door inside the treehouse coop. Caught 2 like that in the fall. This was before BAckyard chickens and info hard to get on predators.