Or at least what I suspicion was a raccoon wasn't willing to wait for them to grow any bigger. Michael has taken Irene to Mayo Clinic to get things put in order and back inside her abdomen and so I had the pleasure of facing this alone:

Stop reading/looking here if the sight of a mangled chicken carcass bothers you. But this is what we've been trying to fence against:

I removed the uneaten half of the carcass before documenting it as the other chickens were beginning to peck at their former playmate

I explored the perimeter and found evidence of a well fed raccoon:

Not far from here there is a path beaten through the grass going under the new duck fence. We haven't had time to put the ground wire on that section of fence yet.

I didn't find Dudley's head until I was putting the birds away at eventide.

I had to clean up the bits so the other birds don't develop a taste for each other.

In order to not have a repeat diner, I put down chicken wire everywhere a varmint might get a paw inside and secured it with ground staples. I figure we lost a broiler because they are too big to roost and not fast enough to avoid being caught. The ducks are hyper vigilant at night and the other chickens roost out of harm's way.

This morning dawned on all my chickens and ducks with their feathers intact.