Any traffic we get back here is a neighbor so I'm almost certain they weren't stolen. I'd like to see a thief catch them anyway as I have a hard enough time as they were very skittish.
I'll look for tracks but the only predator I've seen are hawks (not recently). I would suspect to see some feathers if it was a land predator. Maybe the predator will return this evening.
If they did run off, is that common? I can't imagine them wanting to go far from the flock or water in this heat.
Is there a way to set up a camera to catch whatever come's back for more?