Missing Chicken Problems!!!

[EliyaSage]

Alright.. We had 8 chickens as of two days ago. The day before yesterday we walked outside and suddenly had 5. In the apast We've had the rare dead chicken every once in awhile, once we found evidence one was taken from the coop by a small critter. Had 2 half grown chickies die, but that's not unusual for chicks. Never anything like this. We had 8 chickens, and then the next day we had 5. We found 2 openings in the wire, once pushed up, it was about the size of your hand. We fixed them and prayed they had just gotten out and wondered too far away... Today we have 3. We found ONE chicken dead in the coop, innards gone. We have 3 chickens left, and we repaired the new hole it made. We have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER what could be that small but take 5 adult chickens in the course of 2 days!!! There isn't a trail of feathers, in fact, no feathers at all outside the coop!!! Some inside but that's normal for molting season!!! We've had chickens for 9 years straight and never had this problem! Our chickens have never disappeared like this! Yesterday the 5 chickens that survived where the healthy and young ones (except for our oldest chicken we've ever had, she's got to be 6 years old) but in spite of her "crippled" foot (she's always had it, when we bought her she had it and the owner had no idea how it happened) she's by far the fastest darn chicken I've ever seen. I'll try to get pictures of the survivors in a moment, just wanted to post this as soon as possible. Should we try to keep them inside tonight until we can be sure their coop is fully secure? We can lock them in their hen house tonight but Mom said a raccoon could easily get in.
Btw this might help, we have these predators in our area: Coyotes, (not seen them this year or heard them), Raccoons (I know for a fact one lives in our next door neighbor's woods, he's snuck up behind me probably 5 feet away when I was with my goats and he just walked, didn't seem the least bit afraid) I've never ever seen any evidence of a Weasil anywhere near here. Never seen foxes but could be an option. It's hard to pinpoint what lives near us because 1 house away there is a HUGE cow-field that deer come threw and cross through our yard at night to get to it, Predators come in and go through the field, it's huge so there really is no way to tell what the heck lives in there. We've lived here 9 years and never met the owners. We have Hawks and Falcons but I really don't see them as an option considering the evidence. Any Help Would Be Awesome!!!!

This is Sweety, The eldest, But even with that, and her "Crippled" foot, she's still the fastest hen we've ever had. She's not aggressive towards us or the other chickies but prefers to keep her distance from us.

This is Dorito... She's only 2 1/2 years old, but when we had 8 chickens she was the boss. I've noticed since the others got taken she's softened up a lot. She'll even let you pet her now.

This is Clarisse. She was one of the chicks we got last summer. She's the youngest. Since we got her when she was a chick she's very domestic, she'll let you pet her or hold her without a fuss. She and one chicken we lost were the ones in charge of keeping the eggs warm once the other chickens laid them.

Got some pics of the feathers to just give an idea of the amount of them.

I really hope that red thing isn't what i think it is....

All of the lovely ladies we have left. Love them so much... miss all the lovely hens we've lost...
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REST IN PEACE:
-Daniela. (Came with Clarisse, Aubrie, & KC.)
-KC: Krispy Cream. Related to Clarisse. (Came with Daniela, Aubrie, & Clarisse.)
-Ms.Brown. (Came with Sweety.)
-Aubrie. (Came with Clarisse, Daniela, & KC.)
-Burrito. Related to Dorito. (Came with Dorito.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[EliyaSage]

-Mom says it's probably a raccoon. We put Kyan pepper spice all over everywhere out there and we're gonna lock them up tonight and she says we can't do anything else... any suggestions would still be very helpful, thank you!

 

[chickens really]

I would add heavier gauged wire with smaller holes..Chicken wire only keeps the Chickens in, not the predators out..Keep the Birds locked in at night...

 

[aart]

Should we try to keep them inside tonight until we can be sure their coop is fully secure? We can lock them in their hen house tonight but Mom said a raccoon could easily get in.

So the 'coop' is the outside area with chicken wire walls?
And the 'hen house' is more secure and where they sleep at night?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

A possum's teeth and jaws are small and weak. They will usually eviscerate the chicken's abdomen. However possums have little in common with Charles Atlas so I doubt that a possum would tote off a full size adult chicken.

 

[Naser]

I would add heavier gauged wire with smaller holes..Chicken wire only keeps the Chickens in, not the predators out..Keep the Birds locked in at night...

X2

 

[EliyaSage]

I would add heavier gauged wire with smaller holes..Chicken wire only keeps the Chickens in, not the predators out..Keep the Birds locked in at night...

Yeah, We didn't actually build the enclosure ourselves, it was a turkey cook before we moved in. This coming summer we're gonna build a new one, and get a few more hens after it's finished, and get a few Sea-bright chickens just so we have enough eggs, and plus we saw them at the Dixie classic fair and really liked them. Thank you

 

[EliyaSage]

So the 'coop' is the outside area with chicken wire walls?
And the 'hen house' is more secure and where they sleep at night?

That's correct, sorry i should've been more specific

 

[esme13]

Could be a weasel? But not sure if you have them where you live?

 

[EliyaSage]

A possum's teeth and jaws are small and weak. They will usually eviscerate the chicken's abdomen. However, possums have little in common with Charles Atlas so I doubt that a possum would tote off a full-size adult chicken.

Yeah, We found out that whatever took them had to have been able to carry at the least, a full grown chicken at a time, had to of been able to fit through a small area on the ground or a very small area at the top.The first time it went through an opening at the bottom, the second time it found a spot, (there's a skinny tree in the coop and at the top, it's usually very secure but something happened and it got through and made a hole) so it has to be able to shimmy down and up that tree, squeeze through a small hole, and take a chicken with it. It seems to make a new hole every night, We are keeping the 3 locked up in there hen house, but since i lock up my goats at night in their barn shelter (worried about coyotes), even though the goats are only a little away from the house, but the chickens are way back in the woods, and lucky me i get to go out there at night in the cold alone in the dark every night ..... Jk i watch horror movies and i'm terrified.