What killed my hen?

[annabobbob717]

We let our chickens out of the run usually around 11 to keep them safe. Yesterday we made the mistake and opened the run door at 8 am. We live in a neighborhood with little predators attacks so this is almost never an issue. We heard no noise, and all the others hens were happy and accounted for acting as if they saw nothing. We found a trail of feathers leading to the neighbors yard past a tall 8 foot fence. All we found was a small pile of feathers and one of her wings. I cannot figure out if this was a fox attack because of the quickness. We do have three big dogs that may have scared it away from coming back for more. But what animal would come in a yard over a large fence, grab one large Brahma, and leave so silently? Thank you for any ideas it would really be appreciated bc we would like to know what we are up against for future protection.

 

[sourland]

Fox, coyote, bobcat are all possibilities - snatch and run predators capable of scaling a fence. Very likely it will return.

 

[McChooky]

We let our chickens out of the run usually around 11 to keep them safe. Yesterday we made the mistake and opened the run door at 8 am. We live in a neighborhood with little predators attacks so this is almost never an issue. We heard no noise, and all the others hens were happy and accounted for acting as if they saw nothing. We found a trail of feathers leading to the neighbors yard past a tall 8 foot fence. All we found was a small pile of feathers and one of her wings. I cannot figure out if this was a fox attack because of the quickness. We do have three big dogs that may have scared it away from coming back for more. But what animal would come in a yard over a large fence, grab one large Brahma, and leave so silently? Thank you for any ideas it would really be appreciated bc we would like to know what we are up against for future protection.

I'm sorry for your loss! I don't let mine out before noon or later. Sometimes late as 2 or 3 o'clock in the day. I also put them up an hr before dark so anything hunting before dark isn't likely to get mine.
I once lost 2 hens on the same day to a fox or coyote but didn't see anything. 2 or 3 feathers was all I ever found.