what is taking them?

[TLWR]

Last Monday or Tuesday night, i couldn't find the polish rooster. No signs of him anywhere. No bird, no body, no feathers, nothing. DH and I searched by flash light and nothing. I searched the next morning and DH searched the next afternoon. Nothing.
I looked everywhere I could this weekend for a body but we can't get into all the woods on our property. I couldn't find him anywhere.

I was out in the garden with the chickens at 5 tonight and all 4 girls were there. Went out a bit ago to close them up and no polish chicken.
Spent 30 mins looking for her. Again, nothing.
What the hell is taking them?
I was sitting on the couch, with the back door open. I can hear the neighbor dog barking in the distance, but I didn't hear anything.

What the heck is taking my birds?

 

[Judy]

Fox is a good candidate, in my experience. They can kill and eat on the spot, leaving a bunch of feathers scattered around, but they will also take them off whole, to eat somewhere else. I'm sure there are other good candidates, though.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/18670/poultry-predator-identification/0_20

 

[borrow53]

OVer here in the uk my friend had a Muscovy duck full size adult taken away by some type of eagle

 

[tankerman]

Sounds like a fox or raccoon.

Buy a game camera at the local hunting shop.

 

[TLWR]

Well, I found her this morning hiding in a tree by where she normally camps out at night before I put her in the chicken house and lock them up.
Tonight I get home and hope after a night out, she would be in bed already.
Nope. She's back in the tree. So she'll be sleeping there again tonight as I can't get her where she is.

So now back to not knowing what took the rooster that has been gone a week.
We don't know what time he went missing - I get home in the dark on Tuesdays and he wasn't here when I got home. DH didn't recall if he'd seen/heard him when he got home that afternoon.
Somebody could have absconded with our nice looking polish rooster or something snacked on him or snake bit him and he's in our woods somewhere - no clue

 

[Judy]

I believe it's usually raccoon when they sleep in trees and go missing overnight, although an owl or eagle could certainly take a smaller bird.

 

[peepsandquackes]

Something got into my chicken house last night by knocking a cinder block down. Ate the heads off of two of my buff brahams. What is it? Saw a opposum at the other house but it ran off before we could kill it.