One of the most persistent problems that backyard poultry farmers have to deal with is predation.
Unfortunately chickens are way, way down in the food chain and have a lot of contenders to worry about.
In fact almost anything larger than a weasel can lay its claim on a chicken and get away with it.
Some of the most common predators are dogs, cats, weasels, foxes, raccoons, possums, owls, and hawks.
These are very easy to find and are also very skilled in the art of "preying".
However you may not have to deal with each of them so the most important thing for you to do once you find strange occurrences in your backyard is to identify what you are dealing with.
Fortunately for you, each of these predators leaves behind a trail through which you can identify the culprit.
For instance if you have found a dead bird with no parts missing, then in all probability you are dealing with a dog or a weasel, both of which will kill for sport.
If there are a parts missing then your problem can be a raccoon or a weasel as well as a dog who managed to reach into your coop/run and rip a poor bird's head or limb off.
A missing bird with absolutely no trail what-so-ever can be the work of a hawk or an owl who managed to swoop down and grab a bird.
Remember hawks operate by the morning while owls by the night.
Of course there are many more things you should consider when dealing with predators.