My son in Missouri just got back from a family vacation yesterday to find that raccoons had broken into his chicken coop and killed his ten hens. He said his children were really torn up by it. I am sure he wasn't happy either. I had encouraged him to kill the predators this summer, but he told me his mother-in-law would not forgive him if he did. I wonder how she feels about that now?
Terrible, so far Foxy and Leo do keep the raccoons away. One was pooing in our bird bath and we have Foxy going after it on the security camera. No more poop in the birdbath. Don did your son have more chickens and did he get rid of the varmint?
I don't think he will get more chickens at the moment. He is expecting to get transferred to Nebraska sometime this fall or early spring. He hasn't said anything about getting the varmit(s) so I don't know if he bothered. He has two large dogs, but they aren't out at night when the attacks usually occur.
We have snakes in our pen now and then. So far, no chickens hurt. They did eat our biddies in the brooder several teas ago.