some kind of predator...

[MysticScorpio82]

Since we are all taking a guess, I would say either a fox or a mink. If it was a fox, they normally take some of their kills with them. Perhaps the predator identification thread will help you? https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=18670

I am sorry for your losses

 

[joanie_maine]

Chez'z Chickens :

So last night we set a trap with one of the murdered chicks but didn't catch anything.
Once about a year or so ago one of my cats brought me a mink as a present. We do live by a creek so that's a possibility. As far as jumping over the stall wall, the walls are 2" wood with sliding door and wire that goes up to about 9 or 10 feet. It HAD to get in/out under the wall. There was fresh dirt on the inside of the stall where it had dug out the same way it came in.
any more suggestions??
PLEASE???
I'm just devastated and perplexed!

Minks and weasels are my worst nightmare.

They can get in throught holes bigger than an inch.

They WILL COME BACK to get more.

Put your remaining birds in a container (pen) without any holes bigger than an inch. Worry only about the pens initially.

They also are catchable if you have a Havahart trap with a dead chick (chicken) inside as bait. Then do not be kind!!!

I lost two seaons of birds untill I figured out how to prevent these vermin from getting to my birds.​

 

[Southernbelle]

To know for sure, we bought one of those motion-activated game cameras and our predator was a fox. He would kill them and eat the head and neck, leaving the rest of the carcass. If I left the carcass, he'd come back the next night and take it. He never tried to tunnel into the main coop, though, he just got my free-ranging cockrels that lived outside the coop.

 

[Chez'z Chickens]

We just got the critter. It was a badger. We finished a movie and went out to lock up the chickens. When we walked outside we could smell the musky thing and as we got closer to the barn we could see fresh digging. Went into the barn and my DH just shot it as she was in her way into the pen with the ADULT chickens! Gone gone GONE!
Bad thing is, she probably had a litter somewhere but the babies are safe for now.
phew!!! I'm high on adrenaline!
thanks guys, for all the suggestions.

 

[Zookeeper9000]

Congrats on your catch, if she did have babies somewhere then lets hope they die and don't become your problem. Harsh I know but that is how I feel.

 

[Chez'z Chickens]

I totally agree about them dying now, rather than later, by our hand. I was even dreaming about that nasty animal last night.
I am soooo relieved.
thanks again, you guys for all the support. I actually thought it was either a weasel or a raccoon. I guess the suprise was on us.