HELP! Chickens going missing

[Unknowen]

Hi everyone.
I'm pretty desperate at this point. I think I've tried everything. I'm really new to chickens, and I HAD 10 sex linked reds, a rooster, and 11 barred rock pullets. Now I only have the pullets and 7 sex links. I've had the chickens since early May, and until recently I haven't had any problems.
They are all completely free range. I let them out in the morning around 8:30 then close them back up in their coop whenever they go to bed at night. we have a couple acres of yard, which is mowed with not much above it. Then lots and lots of woods. There were recently loggers that came through behind the woods, so past the strip of woods is a desolate wasteland where nothing lives.
About 2 weeks ago I had my first chicken go missing. She just didn't come home at night. I thought it must be a predator and set out traps and poison (poison was picked up before the animals were let out). Something ate the poison, so I thought that was that. But then I lost another. And then just the other night I lost both my rooster and a hen! I walked through the woods and the yard where they like to hang out and there was no sign of them. I scoured those woods looking for my rooster and I didn't find anything, no blood, no feathers, nothing.
I went out to check on the chickens just now and I think I may have lost another!
I was home when the rooster went missing and I didn't hear anything at all.
The really strange thing is the pullets are all still fine. I haven't lost a single one of them, and they're left to roam just like the hens.
What in the world could be doing this!? What could possibly take a full grown rooster in the middle of the day?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It depends on where you live. For a missing bird, dog is most likely but a loss with no trace can be cougar, bobcat, wolf, coyote, fox, eagle, buteo hawk, bear or man.
The fact that the forest has been decimated creates predator problems. I've never had mink problems in my life but 100 acres of old growth timber along a creek just upstream from me has brought that bane and they've killed 40 of my chickens.

The rooster did his job and saved the flock giving up his life.

You need to find out what it is so you know how to trap.

Every predator requires different trapping techniques.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/18670/poultry-predator-identification

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/261440/the-worst-predator

 

[Unknowen]

I've researched predators over and over, and I can't figure out what this one is. I live east of Charlottesville, Virginia, not in the middle of nowhere, but a little out there.
The attacks are happening in the middle of the day, which I think rules out a lot. Foxes and coyotes tend to hunt at dawn and dusk. The rooster went missing between 11 AM and 4 PM.
Also, there is no sign at all of the missing chickens. I thought maybe hawk, but could a hawk carry away my full grown rooster? He was pretty big. And if it's a hawk why is it not going after the little ones? I feel like they'd be easier prey.
For this area I think the main predators are coyotes, fox, hawks, feral cats, and bobcats (and dogs, but I don't think our neighbors have dogs). I don't think any of those fit the attacks though. And nothing's been getting into the bait I lay out at night either.

 

[Percheron chick]

You also need to keep them locked up until you can provide a defensible space for them What ever it is will keep returning for it's daily meal until it cleans you out and has to move on.

 

[Unknowen]

I'm worried if I keep them locked up I'll lose even more to the heat. The coop we have is small and gets really hot in the afternoon. Building new things, like a new coop or fence, isn't really an option. If it can't be made with the scraps we've got, we can't afford to build it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Sometimes one needs to think outside the box. I've had coyotes walk through the yard in the middle of the day and fox grab a chicken right in front of me at 3 pm.
With hawks, most acipiters (bird hawks) are too small to carry off a full grown chicken. On the other hand, most buteos (buzzard hawks) are pretty big and can do so. Things like red tailed, white tailed, ferruginous and rough legged can all get the job done.
Dogs were one of my biggest problems till the mink.
They squeezed through 1" holes at night and grabbed free ranging chicks in the middle of the day.

 

[Unknowen]

The rate I'm losing chickens is really fast too and sudden, it just started last Friday. I've lost 4 hens + a rooster in about a week, and I lost both the rooster and a hen in one day. Could a fox/coyote/hawk take that many that fast? Or should I be thinking about something other than predators? Like can the heat kill them? The rooster and hen went missing on a day it got up over 100.

If it is a predator I never see it. Leaving bait out at night isn't working either, whatever it is doesn't touch it. I guess since it's killing in the day I'd have to kill it during the day. I can try leaving the chickens in on a cooler day and leaving poison and traps out. That might take care of a fox or coyote. How can you kill or get rid of a hawk though? Unless I see it land somewhere I can't shoot it.

Also, I thought chickens were supposed to be smart and take cover from hawks? I know you could lose a few to a hawk, but this many this fast?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Heat can definitely kill chickens but with the stripped forest, I'm suspecting a wild predator.
It's illegal to kill birds of prey.
Don't feel bad. I lost 6 whole flocks in 4 days. I was (and still am) devastated. I had so many wasted carcasses I was burning them for 5 days to dispose of them. I lost $2,000 worth of chickens. I'm standing guard around the clock for the few I have left and have yet to capture many culprits.
The largest live traps may catch coyotes and foxes. 5 birds in a week would barely feed a fox with kits. Each state's conservation department will have a trapping expert that can help with a plan. You may be required to report any fur bearer trapping you plan. If you're losing livestock it is legal but it's best to contact them.
A combination of conibears, leg traps, snares and leg traps is probably your best option.
Also, if it is hawks, get more roosters. A good rooster can protect your flock. It is usually a draw. The hawk might get him, the rooster might get the hawk.
I haven't lost a chicken to a hawk that I had running with a Penedesenca rooster.

 

[Unknowen]

After some more research I'm thinking fox or coyote. I think if it were a hawk I would have found some bodies, at least the rooster's body. If I you go through the conservation department do you have to pay to have the animal trapped? I really can't afford to pay someone to trap it unless it's very very cheap. I had a large trap (now broken) but that didn't catch anything. Then I resorted to poison, which got eaten the first night then hasn't been touched since. I think I'm going to try leaving the hens inside and leaving out a trap and poison during the day and see if that works. Unless I can get a professional to help, but I seriously doubt anyone would do it for free.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I don't think they'll do it for you. They'll just give advice.
I'm guessing, like you, that a commercial trapper may be pricey. However, buying traps and losing chickens is pricey too.
I could very easily have paid for electric fencing, buying and feeding a livestock guard dog and installed automatic doors on each coop for the value of lost chickens to this point.
Be very cautious about poisons.