I woke up to the worst thing this morning...

[Teila]

Hey TheWolfRaven

I am so very sorry …. How heartbreaking!

Sadly, we DO have foxes in Australia and their numbers probably exceed those of Dingoes!

My first thought is a large goanna and I know for a fact that they will break in to a coop. Next would be fox, closely followed by wild dog.

Can you borrow or purchase a game cam? I would definitely be putting one up and leaving some sort of attractant in the coop. Hopefully it will draw the predator back and you can catch it on camera. Once you know what you are dealing with, you can take steps to fix it.

 

[Teila]

I have been thinking on this some more.

A fox, goanna or dog in the coop is going to leave some evidence over and above just feathers and for any of those critters to take away all three hens and leave nothing but feathers sounds unusual.

Have you looked for your girls? They may still be alive!

A goanna or fox could have broken in but the feathers could just be from the flapping and panic that would have occurred.

Your girls could be hiding after escaping. They would be very scared and possibly in shock so I would definitely scour the surrounding area very carefully. Check even in places you may not think they will hide. I have heard of chickens found hiding in a shed behind a fridge etc.

 

[Rugbygainz]

The above poster is right, they could still be alive. What someone else suggested could also be true that they were dragged somewhere else.
I had a similar experience. We had a coop that was impossible for any predetors to get in. We had one chicken left that was living by herself as the others had died of sickness. When I came on morning the door was open... and she was gone. The door cant actually be opened by an animal. I could hardly even open it. We thought we maybe forgot to close it properly but I still always think one of my other family members did it. I know for a fact a human didnt kill her though because I found her a week later at the edge of a forest about 100 metres away. I was all of her feathers. It was definitely the fox.
Moral of the story, go looking for them! and maybe it wasnt an animal depending on how the coop is designed.

 

[EggWalrus]

Do yall have Devils in Australia? a friend of mine from New Zealand had one as a pet when he was little. Or so he said. I am so sorry for your loss, I just lost a bunch too.