What types of animals find chicken delicious?
Raccoon- can pull apart hexagonal chicken wire
Fox- missing head/partly buried; lone hunters; spring when feeding young; August - when mother leaves the young to find their own food.
Mink- live near bodies of water; solitary hunters; will kill for sport (get in 1" diameter spaces)
Weasel- chickens are not prefer meat source (mice, voles, rats); will kill for sport; will stash kills for later
Coyote- will most often take kill away and consume elsewhere
Dog- loose/strays
Owl- close birds in at night
Hawk- provide cover for birds
Feral Cat - mostly a concern with chick/young birds
Bobcat - active at dawn/dusk/early evening
Bear- not in NE Indiana [but happened to our flock in NE PA]
General guidelines to protect poultry:
close up coop at night
use hardware mesh not chicken wire
elevate the floor of the coop (or put down wire/barrier)
use electric netting
use a guard animal
monitor your flock