Well I am sorry you are having these difficulties..... You have secured your coop which will prevent any further tragedies of the sort you have suffered. I say your coop is small but it is plenty big. I was just envisioning searching it. Small is good for that. Chickens are good for eggs and occasional entertainment, but they get killed on occasion from one unforseen reason or another..... they die on their own sometimes for reasons you never learn.... they are sometimes (despite what some will say) they are dumber than a box of hammers.... I try to treat them as expendables that you are watching over for a short while. I try to get mine as automatic as possible. (automatic water, hanging feeders.... I still have to collect the eggs and open and close the door, but it is not a lot of work. However it was a lot of work to get to the point where it is not a lot of work. And on occasion you will lose one or another... (in my case it has been to either snakes or hawks, but some people suffer from foxes, weasels, coyotes, raccoons.... coop security should be a must. I have had Bears prowling outside my coop but they cannot get in. Outside the coop, it will always be a risk, but they are a great lesson for life in general. Pain and suffering.... followed by inevitable death.... what is not to love?
