Predator took all 5 hens last night! I feel horrible!

If you have a fence, the problem is most definitely Racoons. Foxes and Coyotes cannot scale walls🤣😂

I have had issues with racoons myself and they tend to drag the bodies off to eat them later.

For some reason they only want you to watch the video on youtube...so have to click that link which it will not even let me post.
 
What an unfortunate incident! With no bodies, or an awakening ruckus, I might wonder if it was a terrible, mean person or two. Humans are the most vicious predator.
 
Yes - I swear predators are out there lurking waiting for us to screw up. My chickens go to bed at 6:15. I went out to lock the gate, close the upstairs door. My dog was with me and she chased them all over. I took the dog inside thinking I would come back in 10 minutes and lock everything up. So I bopped out in 10 minutes and opened the bedroom door to say goodnight and there were only 5 hens, closed the door and opened again hoping the 6th hen would magically appear. By then it was almost dark. My husband, 2 sons and I searched for Penny until 10:30 at night. How did someone/something get her in a matter of 10 minutes? Not a feather in site. I understand your pain.
 
Those foxes lay in wait, for just the perfect moment. Just like a hawk...they study their prey before attacking. I am constantly watching the trees for hawks, so that I am aware if they are hanging around.
 
Hi Everyone, thank you to everyone at this forum as you have all been so helpful! Every night I have a routine which includes checking on my 5 hens and closing their hutch door. I have done this for 5 years. Last night I am assuming I forgot as I noted the main door open this AM. All of my chickens are gone. There are no bodies, bones, etc. - just piles of feathers. I live in town with 2 sides of 8 foot fence and 2 sides of 4 foot fence. Hawks have been my daytime issues in the past as I lost one of my birds two years ago to a hawk in the daylight. I feel horribly guilty. Does anyone know what predator, in a southeastern PA town would just leave feathers overnight, be able to kill 5 birds, and leave nothing more? There are no gaps in the fence bottom and I have 3 dogs who use my yard to run and play....thank you for any information. I truly appreciate it!

where is there coop to roost in at night? They needed a coop with a sliding door for food and water. They go out during the day to scratch..If takin its a coyotes or fox. They r eating them..
 
If you go the automatic door route, there are many different doors out there and they are not all equally good, so do your research. We went through a few before finding a good one.

Which door did you end up getting. I've heard automatic doors that can also hurt chickens. Hence my reason for asking
 
Which door did you end up getting. I've heard automatic doors that can also hurt chickens. Hence my reason for asking

Hi. Currently, we are using the Pullet-Shut Automatic Chicken Door. You can find it at chickendoors.com. We have had ours for about a year and not had any problems, it has closed reliably and completely every night and opened every morning. I have heard of doors shutting on chickens and even killing them but I think that this door has an auto stop if anything is in the way. If you want to buy it, check with them that I am correct about the auto stop because its been awhile since I researched it all. They were really nice about responding when I had questions. We have the solar option on our door and if for some reason we want to keep the door shut in the daytime, we just put a dark sock over the light sensor and the door thinks its night and doesn't open. The greatest thing about this door is that the controls are on the outside of the coop. Its crazy but most seem to put the controls inside the coop which is uncomfortable (crawling in the coop) and impossible if the chickens are inside it too (we have a rooster of questionable temperament). Anyway, we went through a couple other automatic doors (which were an expensive waste!) before finding this one.
 
Can you say which door you preferred?

Hi. Currently, we are using the Pullet-Shut Automatic Chicken Door. You can find it at chickendoors.com. We have had ours for about a year and it has reliably closed (completely) every night and opened every morning. We bought the solar package with ours and it all works great. We just put a dark sock over the light sensor if we need the door to stay shut for some reason. This company was really nice about answering my questions right away so that's a plus too. The best thing about this automatic door (besides its reliability) is that the control panel is on the outside of the coop. Its crazy but most seem to put the control panel inside the coop where it is uncomfortable to get to (crawling in the coop) and impossible to get to when the chickens are inside (we have a rooster of questionable character). The Pullet-Shut door has the controls on the outside of the coop, which is a huge plus. Anyway, we went through a couple different automatic doors (an expensive experiment!) before finding this one.
 
Hi. Currently, we are using the Pullet-Shut Automatic Chicken Door. You can find it at chickendoors.com. We have had ours for about a year and it has reliably closed (completely) every night and opened every morning. We bought the solar package with ours and it all works great. We just put a dark sock over the light sensor if we need the door to stay shut for some reason. This company was really nice about answering my questions right away so that's a plus too. The best thing about this automatic door (besides its reliability) is that the control panel is on the outside of the coop. Its crazy but most seem to put the control panel inside the coop where it is uncomfortable to get to (crawling in the coop) and impossible to get to when the chickens are inside (we have a rooster of questionable character). The Pullet-Shut door has the controls on the outside of the coop, which is a huge plus. Anyway, we went through a couple different automatic doors (an expensive experiment!) before finding this one.
Thanks! Appreciate you sharing! I was just looking at their doors yesterday but it's so hard to choose. I like that the controls are on the outside too.
 
Hi Everyone, thank you to everyone at this forum as you have all been so helpful! Every night I have a routine which includes checking on my 5 hens and closing their hutch door. I have done this for 5 years. Last night I am assuming I forgot as I noted the main door open this AM. All of my chickens are gone. There are no bodies, bones, etc. - just piles of feathers. I live in town with 2 sides of 8 foot fence and 2 sides of 4 foot fence. Hawks have been my daytime issues in the past as I lost one of my birds two years ago to a hawk in the daylight. I feel horribly guilty. Does anyone know what predator, in a southeastern PA town would just leave feathers overnight, be able to kill 5 birds, and leave nothing more? There are no gaps in the fence bottom and I have 3 dogs who use my yard to run and play....thank you for any information. I truly appreciate it!
Owl
 

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