What am I dealing with?

[yokobunbun]

So, this all started last week when I went to put my chickens in their coop for the night. I went inside and found my favorite silkie dead with a large cut on the back of it's neck. The chickens were very scared of whatever it was because I found them scattered all over the backyard hiding. The next day I didn't let my chickens outside and I noticed one of my older hens had cuts all over the bottom of her feet and couldn't walk well. She was eating and acting fine besides the cuts, but she slowly got worse and I ended up having to separate her and feed her by hand. She died three days later. The day after she had passed me and my boyfriend were feeding the chickens and we noticed that a hen was missing, this hen had been having a lot of issues with her feet as well, but nothing severe. She had somehow bent her toe and stayed in the nest a lot, but she still functioned normally and went outside. When we saw that she was gone we checked the backyard for her and did not find her. I basically knew she was dead. We did find her, or what was left of her. The predator dragged her outside the coop and underneath it, which is where a mink took some of our chickens before. I instantly thought mink, but here is the weird part, when we raked her body out she had no ribs or wings and was a complete skeleton. Last time we dealt with a mink it ripped off the heads and took the bodies with it when it left. This "creature" left the skeleton there. I've never seen anything like this. I got a call this morning from my neighbor who said that a coyote took five of his chickens and ran off with the bodies.
I doubt a coyote killed my two chickens due to the fact that a coyote would not fit under the coop. Can someone please help me out?? I do not want to lose anymore chickens.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I'm sorry about your birds, but that really isn't enough information for me to help you. Maybe someone else will have a clue. It doesn't sound like any predators I am familiar with. I hope you catch the culprit.

 

[good ole boy]

that is strange, i had a major loss about 3 or 4 months back i had similar issues, some hens were eaten on the similar way and some just came up missing except for the pile of feathers under the edge of the barn. i have a very weird work schedule, i work nights 12 hr shifts so on my weekend off i sat outside on the back porch most of the night. i heard the hens going crazy so i went to the barn and when i opened the door i caught a glance of a racoon climbing through the top of the barn, he had climbed the side of the barn and squeezed through a small gap in the eave of the barn loft. well i would say you are dealing with either a racoon or a opossum but that is just a opinion. a opossum will eat a chicken almost exactly like the way you described it, i caught one doing that same thing a while back. i hope you can figure it out and solve the issue with the predator. as for me if it does`nt belong on my small farm i usually just exterminate it. sorry for your loss

 

[mjuenem]

Leg bites sometimes means rats.

 

[yokobunbun]

Thanks for your input everyone. I'm sure I will catch or identify the predator. A lot of people are telling me rats, so traps will be set.
Thanks!!!!