Had a guy call me last week because a fox killed several of his chickens in broad daylight. He saw it happen.

I'm a water trapper, not a fox trapper, but gave him the name of a guy who used to drop off fur at my place. All he trapped was fox and coyotes. He was going to contact him.

My bet is an owl. As stated earlier hawks kill and then start to pluck and eat. Owls are big and will carry off their prey. They will be back too if there is more food. SSS

Bald eagle killed two hens for me.

Pipeliner, have you found anything out for sure or eliminated any culprits?

a full grown rooster is a bit much for any bird short of an eagle to carry off.

I would not rule out

K9 especially with a lack of feathers and blood , they will carry them off after a good head shake to break the neck.

that could be fox , coyote , or domestic

had a farm dog get a domestic duck that got out of the duck fence , at kill location nothing to maybe a couple feathers , it took it around the other side of the barn to chow down and was stopped before maybe a dozen feathers were pulled.

when we were losing chickens to an owl there were many feathers as they divide them up into pieces to bring back to the nest not that it can't be day time but it was always night for us when it happened. had to move them in every night as a result.

Nothing yet. We have been keeping the hens in the run for now unless we are home and my 2 hounds are outside with them. I have plans to set some traps on my father’s property about a 1/4 mile down the road. I have caught a few coyotes there before and am sure fox are running through there too. The more I think about it I do believe it was a fox or k9. The two hawks I have seen around here for a long time are not big ones at all. I don’t believe they could carry my rooster off like that. Never seen an eagle around here so Im ruling that out. Id love to trap in the neighbors field behind my home but my cats have a knack of finding them the hard way.

Cable restraints with relaxing locks . If legal for you could be the ticket. I woulf look for any places the are ducking under fences you can find..