What predator killed my chickens??

[sueleiter]

All four of my chickens were taken in one night and I'm so upset! I've searched on-line and it's a such a mystery as none of the predators seem to fit. The chickens were in a coop that was in a closed fenced area with 9 foot fences..no holes were found.
The coop was kept open as the chickens went in and out on their own as I never had issues before this one.

The chickens were completely gone all in one night..only feathers remained.(lots of feathers!) No carcasses. No blood or bones. They just disappeared. No sound.

We live in a residentail area of CA...occasional coyote siting (but they could not scale fence); occasional coons (but they leave bones?),occasional bobcat (but it could not take 4, could it??), occasional fox (but it could not take 4 and they do not run in packs?),
same with hawk..how could it take all 4 at once?

I'm stumped and would love any ideas...
heartbroken...

 

[Howard E]

So you live in a residential area? Possibly humans?

 

[sueleiter]

I thought of humans but unlikely we would not have heard them and who would take 4 chickens?? and so many feathers..ground covered with them...the coop is right outside our bedroom window very risky for humans to trespass....secure neighborhood...

 

[Howard E]

If a human varmint, normally that would happen at night by taking them off the roost. Grab one, it flops around as you poke it in a bag. Grab another and another and another and you are outta there. Not a whole lot of noise.

They might take them as layers, but more likely to eat them.

 

[theoldchick]

Get a game cam and set it up to see what is visiting at night. You'll be surprised at what's out there.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

I'm sorry to hear about your chickens.

I'm guessing raccoon. Possibly a family?
They can scale the fence. They'd take all four.
I had 5 week old silver spangled Hamburg chicks in a rabbit cage in quarantine in our shop.
The one door was slightly compromised from being in the flood.
They broke the bottom where it was weak, got into the shop and pulled the chicks out of the cage through the 1/2 X 1 holes. Only thing left was feathers
It wouldn't have to be a full grown 'coon. The young are just as deadly.

If it was a human, there wouldn't be the feathers.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Get a game cam and set it up to see what is visiting at night. You'll be surprised at what's out there.

May I ask, is that someone at your coop at night???

 

[carlf]

MY guess is raccoons. Killed them & dragged them off.
Get a box trap, only way to really find out.
Did your coop open into a fenced run or just out in the yard?
If the latter, you must shut the door every night. Must.

 

[theoldchick]

May I ask, is that someone at your coop at night???

Yep. Me. Here's a photo of the real predator I was dealing with at that time.

 

[aart]

I thought of humans but unlikely we would not have heard them and who would take 4 chickens?? and so many feathers..ground covered with them...the coop is right outside our bedroom window very risky for humans to trespass....secure neighborhood...

Surprised you didn't hear anything.