I lost my beautiful new Speckled Sussex pullet today. My mother came out today and when we left around 10:30, all three were fine. When we got back around 1:15, I didn't see anyone. I didn't think much of it because Ruby might have been laying and the grass was so tall, I figured I just couldn't see the babies. I went out a bit after 1:30 to check on them, and saw the feathers... Best we can figure out is that something snagged her through the fence, slashed her neck and side, then she fell out of reach and it left. Ruby and Sprinkles were quite freaked out and hid for hours.
We do have raccoons here, but I've never seen one during the day. We have opposums in the area, but I've never seen one on our property. Our neighbor has a cat that he lets out, but I don't know if it would go after the chickens. The hawks could not have gotten in the pen.
*sigh*
