Coons are known to reach thru and eat whatever they can pull thru the side of the enclosure. Sounds like the work of a coon. Another good reason to not rely on "chicken wire". However your calling it "hardware cloth" and they cannot reach thru 1/2" X 1/2" hardware cloth.
Agreed, this does sound like coon behavior. I've been trying to trap a massive one that wiped out almost all of my previous flock. His signature way of killing them was to crush their head, and one had been pulled partway through the bottom of the coop so that she was stuck. Raccoons are smart, and all I can say is to stay on your toes. I have tried a few different traps without much success, but I'm going to keep trying until I nail that thing.
I do have my share of predator stories, unfortunately. I have had a LOT of them this year.
As mentioned above, I have had problems with a huge raccoon raiding my coop at night and terrorizing my chickens. I tried putting out a pair of live box traps, but the raccoon was either too big or too smart to get caught in them. From what I understand, raccoons can actually reach through the wiring and let themselves out. If you use a box trap, or Hav-a-hart trap, I would recommend putting bricks or something similar along the sides of the trap so that the coon cannot reach out. I have also tried a barrel leg trap, which was avoided, and a medium sized jaw trap (smooth, no teeth) This was avoided, too. They're very smart, but I'm going to keep trying. I may need to wash the traps and then use gloves to set them out. I will camouflage them, too. Raccoons will detect the human scent on traps set with bare hands, and it will keep them away from the trap.
I have also had an incredibly large amount of dogs coming into my yard after my birds. To date, I've lost one turkey and two chickens to dogs, as well as had my rooster harrassed multiple times. My recommendation? Either get a good fence for where your birds range, or stay out there to watch them. I plan to do both, when I can.
I've had a problem with a feral cat killing my chicks, too. The problem was, I had the hen and the rooster that was with her inside of a run to keep them safe from raccoon attacks. What I failed to foresee was that the chicks were small enough that they could go through the chainlink very easily. This left them exposed to predators where the adults could not protect them. In the future, if I need to put a brooding hen in the run, I will either put a skirt of rabbit mesh along the bottom of the run, or I will keep the rooster outside of it so that he can chase off cats.
And......I know that this sounds gross, but I promise it works. If you're having problems with cats or skunks or the like getting into your coop/run, have a few gentlemen pee around it. The scent will really help drive off predators.
