What is eating my chickens?

[AvasCoop]

When I first got chickens, (Me being inexperienced and all) I put them in a triangular coop and at night I would put them up in the roost area of it. One day I came down to the yard and they were all gone. There were no feathers or carcasses and barely any blood. All that was there was a shallow hole, maybe 4 inches deep and 7 across. Note- We live on top of a wooded hill, and at the bottom of that there is a swampy pond if that helps.

 

[50-45-1]

So the chickens went missing duing the daytime or night?
No feathers sounds like they just went out the hole by themself. A preditor would have left some to alot of feathers.
They did not dig the hole i assume, unless it was in there favorite dusting spot up against the edge of the fence.
What state are you located in?
Pictures of the hole, pictures of your coop and run.
More info before we can narrow it down.

 

[AvasCoop]

they went missing at night. I am in Wisconsin. I dont have a picture of the coop anymore, I have since bought a new one. The one that I had was a simple triangular one with a ramp leading up to the roosting area. The run was the underneath the roosting part of the coop. I dont have a picture of the hole though, sorry.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Welcome to BYC. I’m so sorry for your loss!

 

[NoFlyBackFarm]

Hmmmmmm...... maybe a skunk or something. I had a similar problem. Any footprints that you saw. A fox would have left carcasses, a opossum a mess, and a raccoon a lot of blood. Skunks take my birds with almost no evidence. So sorry for your loss!

 

[cmom]

If you have a game camera put it up because more than likely it will be back then you will know what you are dealing with. I would suspect first a fox. Many predators are diggers. I lost several birds to a bobcat that dug under a fence and a fox that dug under a gate. I now have electric wire around my pens and coops, concrete under the gates and netting covering all of the pens because of an owl that got in and killed some birds. I put a game camera up and did catch the predators.

 

[cmom]

So the chickens went missing duing the daytime or night?
No feathers sounds like they just went out the hole by themself. A preditor would have left some to alot of feathers.
They did not dig the hole i assume, unless it was in there favorite dusting spot up against the edge of the fence.
What state are you located in?
Pictures of the hole, pictures of your coop and run.
More info before we can narrow it down.

I noticed you are from Michigan, anywhere near Traverse City?

 

[cmom]

If you have a game camera put it up because more than likely it will be back then you will know what you are dealing with. I would suspect first a fox. Many predators are diggers. I lost several birds to a bobcat that dug under a fence and a fox that dug under a gate. I now have electric wire around my pens and coops, concrete under the gates and netting covering all of the pens because of an owl that got in and killed some birds. I put a game camera up and did catch the predators.

They fox did drag off the birds it killed. The Bobcat didn't.

 

[50-45-1]

Hello from michigan!
You and i have the same preditors. Here i a list if what eats/kills chickens.
Red fox, Grey Fox, coyote, racoon, possom, marten, skunk, fisher, hawks, owl, ravens, mink, weasel, house cat, neighbors dog ,your dog, in addition you may have wolves which we do not here in lower michigan. There may be more i am not thinking of.
I have had trouble with 90% of the above preditors, mostly my fault, as my chicken house was not what it should have been. Now i have a coop that a mouse can not get into, reinforsed down in the ground and windows only a bear could break into.
It is hard to tell what got your chickens. Helpful tool for the future would be a trail camera.
There is alot of information here!
Welcome to the backyard!

 

[NoFlyBackFarm]

Welcome to the backyard!

YAAAS WELCOME!!! Also that is a good post!