what took my hen?

[spell]

so, i have read the sticky but thought i would ask.....
what took my hen?
yesterday @ 5:00, it was gloomy and raining. the hens were in the front yard, the chicken eating dog was in the house.
i heard the dog whining at the window. i assumed he was just sad b/c he could see the chickens and wasn't outside to give them a good barking. the boy said he got up to see what the dog was whining about--nothing.
i went outside @5:30, to greet a friend, only to find a pile of feathers in the driveway. no blood, no skin, no tracks, just feathers. then another pile of feathers a few feet away in the creek. we only have 2 barred rocks, so i went to do a chicken count. most of the girls were up the hill with the rooster but, 1 rock hen was in the coop, on her special roost. she was shaking pretty good but no damage. these 2 rock hens are called juicy and tasty b/c they don't lay and they are the fattest chickens i've ever seen. really, it's no real loss to me other than officially knowing that we have a predator that i have to deal with.

i walked everywhere looking for evidence. i saw what appeared to be a trail that something could have used to run off (although, there are animal trails everywhere around here). found a few stray feathers across the road. no carnage anywhere. she was heavy! i'm suprised that she could just disappear.

i have seen all sorts of things around here....fox, coyote (last winter), the night before i *think* i could have heard a bobcat, smelled a skunk a couple of weeks ago, i guess we've got it all!

i'm in the western NC mountains. i would appreciate your thoughts. thanks

oh yeah! my chicken eating dog must have watched the whole thing. i think he may be traumatized

 

[sourland]

I'm going with bobcat, coyote, fox.

 

[spell]

thanks sourland!
i was thinking the bobcat nor the coyote would come so close to the house in daylight hours.

now what

 

[littleoak]

A fox will come any time of the day. The rainy weather helped hide him. They usually always leave a trail of feathers for a few feet.

 

[sweeterdeeter42]

I was told by a bird expert last week when I found a couple piles of turkey feathers but no blood, flesh or any other sign that these feathers had ever even been part of a turkey that it was a hawk because of the lack of anything else being left behind. and I thought that there was a trail too. but they said it could have been the wind blowing the feathers.

 

[ShortCircuitRanch2332]

id go with coyote and i would walk about 600 feet out and look under trees and bushes for the carnage they usually don't travel far when carrying food

 

[packmomma]

I"ve had dogs come into my yard and "take" chickens with no signs other than feathers. If you dont have stray dogs I'd go with coyote or fox. I've also had raccoons out around dusk. Its still fairly light and have seen them sneaking around. I"ve lost one to a coon, pulled through the chicken fence and drug off, I didnt see any blood but they didnt go far before it was eaten. Just outside the yard fence. It was a gloomy day that day also.