I walked outside the other day waiting to be greeted by my free range flock and found it strangely quiet. finally I hear a chicken call out to me ( a few min's after I walked by) some of my girls had been hiding under the deck and were very reluctant to come out. I knew something was wrong and quickly called out to the rest. they were hiding good because they came out of the edge of the woods under low laying branches where I had already quickly looked. all were there but one.... my poor black langshan Flowers lay lifeless under the apple tree. her intestines were close by in a neat pile. her head was not bitten off , but I do think it had a puncture mark... her side had been eaten and there were a small to moderate amount of scattered feathers. it seemed she had been moved a few feet from where she was killed (a blood spot in the snow and the pile of intestines). I have never had any overnight attacks and nothing has ever tried to get into the coop, but I had occasionally lost a chicken here and there during daylight hours.....the last one being at the end of last winter and her head had been bitten off. at first I thought maybe a dog, but then I saw the pile of innards and ruled that out. If I had a raccoon problem, wouldn't I know it by now? the attacks seem random and few and far between, but I still worry about whatever it was being on the lookout for another easy kill. I have a large dog that I let out several times a day to check out the yard and mark his territory... any thoughts? RIP Flowers girl
