Oh man, that breaks my heart. I can just imagine how you must feel. I almost had the same thing happen to me. Several weeks ago, a stray dog dug it's way under my fence and went after my girls. I purposely built my coop so that its about 3-1/2 feet above the ground, and the only entrance is 1 foot wide. I'd be surprised if a dog could get them at night? But my attack happened at about 6:30 in the am. I free range them in my yard and the go in and out of the coop all on their own so they were already out and pecking away My wife woke me up because she could hear the chickens freaking out in the back yard. I JUMPED out of bed and ran to the back door to find a large pit bull looking breed dog in my yard. Baruch HaShem, my bird's predator evasion instincts kicked in and they scattered in all directions and hid in some tall grass areas and other places in my yard before the dog could get any of them. Luckily I spooked him and he ran back to try and escape from whence he came in, but I grabbed my 22 rifle and gave him a nice little lead souvenir. He came in for a meal, but left with a bullet. If he survived, I'm confident he won't return to try his luck again. All in all my yard is fairly secure, but our neighborhood is rampant with wild dogs.
It was a very close call and I am now taking measures to prevent such intrusion again. I would have been devastated if I had lost even just a few. I feel for you all and very sorry for your loss.
