Lost 4 chicks, 2 suspects

[Why and Dotte]

So, I walk into the coop and my dog who normally has a radio frequency collar with no access to the chicks was in the coop, three 3 wk olds and a two 2 week olds are running around her while shes laying next to the pen.
I look into the cage and there are 4 missing out of the 3 week olds and all of the 2 week olds are there, no feathers around my dog, she just looks up at me and wags her tail. I herd everyone back into their pens and she gets a little excited as they run around so I put her outside, now I'm suspicious that she killed them, I let her back in and she just lays down in the corner.
I go out to look for paw prints and on the ramp there are claw marks going up, kind of curving side to side. No prints, the chickens had trampled any tracks and it was raining.
So one thing, if she did it how did she get them out, the birds are very flighty, they're in a large dog cage, she'd just be able to get 2 inches of her snout in.
I also found a larger gap where shavings had been pushed away, I had forgotten about it- that's why I had chicken wire on the sides before

I feel so responsible, I left the coop doors open for the hens and never closed it, lost 1 golden comet and three brown leghorns my little roo included.
So any ideas on who done it? I'm thinking a skunk, because apparently someone smelled a skunk last night, or a coon, I don't know about that dog though.

 

[TurkeyMountainChickens]

Did it happen at night? Or during the day?

My guess is that it wasn't your dog. They are usually too well-fed to eat their prey in its entirety. There'd be bodies. If they are completely missing, someone carried them off to eat elsewhere.

I'm very sorry for your losses... It hurts to loose them.

 

[Why and Dotte]

Thanks for replying

I was in such a frenzy I miscounted, there are three missing, so it's a little better.
Yes they're completely missing and it happened at night, so it was probably a coon, skunk something in that area.
I'm locking things up tight tonight, I just hope it doesn't come back for more.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

go to your local animal shelter and get a haveaheart trap (live trap). Set it up outside the coop with something tasty inside. Chances are whatever the culprit was will be back, and critters are very very good at finding gaps in your defenses. Please don't just relocate a pest, as it then becomes someone elses problem.

 

[zazouse]

Sorry for your loss.


I don't think it was your dog either, your chickens would not be running around a killer they would be trying to hide, also it sounds like she is guarding the coop, i would leave her in there, My dogs are the best defence against predators

I don't believe it was a skunk, they prefer eggs here at my place,i have a family of them in my old barn, and my chickens wonder in there all the time, i have never lost one to the family, but they do steal the eggs from the free range nest that i don't bother to pick up, same with possiums here.

 

[Why and Dotte]

I went ahead and let two chicks out while she was there, she was calm at first then got in hunting mode like she does with moles, she tried to hit at one like a cat, she may have buried them to eat later, she's done that with eggs before. I had her walk up the ramp and her claws matched what was on the ramp already.
I hope it wasn't her, so far the odds are against her.
Good thing I love that dog.