What could kill and eat 30 chickens in 1 night and not leave a single body.

[PirateGirl]

Is there any chance that whatever broke in allowed for some of your birds to escape? Is there any chance a predator killed and took a few birds and the others ran off in the chaos and are hiding out somewhere?

I'm voting against coyote at this point based on your scat photo. Also I suspect they would have made more of a mess of things.

Did you see the coop cam video someone posted recently of a bobcat in their coop? Your story kinda matches up with this incident.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm guessing you have visiting coyotes. Time to set some traps.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Even a size approximation would help on the scat. Also sorry to hear about such a huge loss.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm voting against coyote at this point based on your scat photo. Also I suspect they would have made more of a mess of things.

Not wanting to be argumentative, but why are you saying NOT coyote, based on scat? Presence of hair in the scat would be dependent on the animal having access to recent game in the diet.

 

[PirateGirl]

Just a guess based on coyote scat I've seen. Not just the hair factor, it just doesn't look right to me based on my experiences. I could be wrong. Wild animal scat of any sort can vary greatly depending what they've recently consumed. As others have said, size of scat makes a huge difference, and I don't know that piece of the puzzle either.

I forgot to post this earlier... it's very similar to the chart in Storey's guide as well. This may help OP figure things out with other clues.

https://countrysidenetwork.com/daily/poultry/chicken-coops-housing/what-killed-my-chicken/

 

[Ruralhideaway]

You all are seeing hair? Geez this getting old thing sucks. Must need new glasses again.

 

[staceyj]

Not to be gross but running that scat through with warm water in a mesh sieve might yield some clues.
And hair can be from what the predator was eating or from grooming.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

I thought I saw seeds. Around here if you see big scat with many seeds you know it's bear.

 

[Bunnylady]

My#1 candidate would be fox, or more likely, foxes. I have had a couple of massacres of 20+ birds, most of which got carried off and all I found was feathers, if anything. Foxes are well-known for caching edibles against leaner times; the fact that they couldn't possibly eat that many chickens before they rot wouldn't occur to them (instincts honed in colder climes persist for many generations).

 

[PirateGirl]

You all are seeing hair? Geez this getting old thing sucks. Must need new glasses again.

No, I didn't see hair, and in my experience predators such as coyotes and large cats for that matter generally have hair in their scat as their primary diet is animal based. or I am as blind as you Bear and raccoons I believe as well as some other predators eat a more varied diet, and as others have mentioned would have plant matter, seeds, etc. in their scat. Location of scat can yield clues too, is it buried, is it on top of a rock or log, some animals have patterns as to where they lay their scat, others just go whenever the mood strikes.