So frustrated

[Duke01cody]

I caught the culprit!! It was a gray squirrel. I don't they are harmful to chickens right?

No

 

[kcan2]

Wow, how frustrating! If it was chipmunks, at least some of the food would be gone. Very curious to know what sort of animal is outsmarting aprons like this...kind of scary.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Curiouser and curiouser! Is there any way to put a trap at the top of the tunnel and catch whatever goes in or out the end of it?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Weasels don't tunnel. They will however use existing tunnels, such as this.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Weasels don't tunnel. They will however use existing tunnels, such as this.

That is good to know. We have moles and shrews, but they don't tunnel straight. I guess they follow worms, their tunnels are all over the place. What kind of critter tunnels straight? Skunks? Badgers? But not 10 feet, surely! Most diggers would start right at the fence, that's why an underground apron foils them. Usually ..

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Coyote? Fox? Yeah, you need a camera!

 

[Eggscaping]

Now we are all intrigued! If you can, do get some kind of game cam or camera that will record, so we can see what's doing this! And thank you for sharing this with us, too.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

Depending on where your coop is I’m you could do some surveillance from a window possibly. I feel as though if no food is missing why would it waste its time getting in there? Do you have water or anything else in the coop something may want? May help figure out what it is.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh boy, a mystery on Chicken TV!

 

[HippieAtHeart]

So you said it might be a squirrel, and after doing some general googling I think it might be even thought it seems odd. I found this diagram from the Iowa state university website and based on you saying there was also a hole in the garden it points to a ground squirrel to me.

I also read this blurb fromhttps://homeguides.sfgate.com/kind-rodent-burrowing-holes-garden-94065.html and it also appears from the description to be a ground squirrel based on the holes being all over.