About a week ago, someone let my rooster out so he spent the night outside the coop. Early in the morning that day, just as the sun was coming up, I heard sounds of panic from the chickens. I ran out, and there was only a couple of feathers left behind but he was completely gone. Anyways, I was convinced it was a coyote. My neighbors said they'd be back since they know there's food here, so I reinforced the fencing in their run just incase. It's been quiet up until this morning, I heard panicking again and ran out side and to my horror I saw the fence of one side of the run completely pulled up from the ground and there were 2 hens missing, the other 2 got out and ran to safety. This time, there was no feathers left behind and I didn't see what animal did this! I got my 2 hens and put them in a large dog kennel and placed it in my front porch, right by the door. At about 9pm today, i'm heading out to go buy a snack and there were 4 javalinas in the run (who got stuck and couldn't find a way to run away) and 5 outside that went running. Could javalinas have done this?! It would make sense, since they dig/can easily pull fence up but will they go out of their way to kill a chicken and leave nothing behind? How can I make them stay away? My little flock was my first, and I raised them from chicks so i'm devastated. I'm rehoming the last 2 hens, but I want to start over sometime if there's a way to keep predators like this away.
