Came home to over half my chickens missing or torn apart

[nuthatched]

I'm so sorry this has happened to you, this is a poultry keepers worst fear.
Where the crops of the chickens eaten? The heads missing sounds like coons, but I don't know if they'd would/could mutilate a tail like that. Dogs and coyotes catch chickens by their tails and could make off with a few of them but I've never heard of them taking just the heads.
I hope maybe you'll get a few returning stragglers in the morning.

 

[KingD]

I'm guessing it was a fox. I have had the same experience multiple times as there are a huge population of foxes around my area. They typically will kill every single chicken and just take one away.
I'm sorry for you!
How did the predator enter the coop? This is what you need to be thinking about.

 

[Bernsen92]

How did the predator enter the coop?

They have a 24ftx10ft cattle panel hoop coop that I built, but it is open front and they completely refuse to use it except for laying. they dig holes and nest in the ground most of the time in groups when they sleep. I'm aware of the risks and have lost one here or there over the last 2 years but the shear number of chickens it killed this time is insane.

 

[sourland]

Be on high alert and ready to shoot today. Hopefully some of the missing birds have returned this morning. Good luck in resolving this.

 

[Chookchicken]

This is awful I am so sorry it sounds like it could be a fox (depending on where you live this could be wrong). It was also most likely a territorial thing if there is no food there then other predators are less likely to come. And the other chickens most likely ran and hid and the predator couldn’t reach them or find them. I hope this helps again I am very sorry for you’re loss

 

[Matejka]

SSS

 

[Matejka]

Most likely, the 3 missing are hiding and hopefully show up today.
Its hard losing a bird, devastating to lose that many, I'm sorry.
I had a flock of 7, neighbors dog got 5 in about 1 1/2 hours. Decimated coop wire and got the rest the next day (before I could get coop repaired). I had to think long and hard before I decided to get more chickens. Now I have a temp flock of 3, they are meat birds (cornish x)and gonna get some dual purpose chicks this spring.
Again, its hard and I understand your anger/frustration especially when you don't know what happened.

 

[cmom]

So sorry for your losses. I agree with @Howard E. It could have been most any predator. Glad your putting a camera up. I have several cameras. I have some on posts that I can move around. I have a couple of coops that are open on one side. I did put tarps over the open sides. Every night the birds go into their coop and roosts. Not sure why your birds won't go in. Maybe it's the roosts. Just guessing. I do have night lights in all of my coops. They are 1 watt LED's. I hope you figure out what the predator is and the missing birds are hiding and will show up. Good luck...
Just over a month ago a bobcat outside of my chick/grow-out coop. I do have electric wires around the coops and pens due to losses from predators in the past. I'm sure it knows the hot wires are there.

 

[kat_and_hens]

oh my goodness, how awful. I am so sorry this happened to you. I hope you can catch the culprit on the game cameras, and that the missing birds are hiding out somewhere.

 

[bill3607]

It was a mink, weasel or one of the cousins.

If you have an open access coop, I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did.

I have not had a weasel attack before so I do not know. However, I have heard from others that weasels will just just suck the blood out but leave the chicken for the most part intact. I am not saying that is true only what I have heard. So, is that not the case??