A bad day to be a chicken

We hate to leave the chickens closed in all the time because we have a great big yard that they can find bugs in. In the warmer months, we were letting them run free almost all day. Then the cooler temperatures came, and the casualties began. After we lost 2 chickens and replaced them, we decided that they would have to stay closed up almost all the time. We were still occasionally letting them out, though because we felt sorry for them all cooped up. Well, this afternoon was apparently an unlucky time to go scratching. I let them out and then went in for a while. Later when I went out to check on them, I didn’t see or hear anything, so I feared the worst. Turns out that 5 of them were hiding because their friend was being eaten. We were wishing hawks weren't a protected species! I guess they will have to be supervised if we let them out again.