2 nights ago, I had 2 hens taken overnight w/o a trace and the 3rd had only lots of feathers left behind. We've lost 3 out of 11 hens! My husband said that he had seen an animal like a cat- w/ very pointy ears, legs longer in back than front and testicles that hung down. He saw it for the first time about 3 days ago. We live in NE Indiana- I know we have foxes nearby and raccoons, but is it possible that this 'cat' could have done this? Could it possibly be a bob cat in our area? He said it appeared a little larger than a housecat and had a loping gait. This happened overnight, because our hens didn't want to go into their coop and get closed in, so he left them out overnight. What kind of predator am I dealing with and how do we keep the remainder of our girls safe? They are all being kept in their coop now. They were used to free ranging however, but we are stopping that. Any advice or suggestions? We've had hens for 2 years and never had any problem like this before.
But I also don't want my chickens going missing either....
