our chickens

We are down to just 4 chickens. It's been a sad week in the flock. Either a raccoon or an owl got in and killed 7 of our 11 chickens. We still have Sofia (our yellow Buff Rock that gives the stink eye just like our friend Shane's little girl, thus the name), Hazel a Rhode Island Red, Jess a RIR, and Prunelly (named after my mom) a silver laced winnendote. It was a rough scene on Friday when we came back from running errands. 2 were gone and I was so worried that they had eaten one another due to the stress of heat or that they had gotten sick or something. Chickens can be cannibals if they become over stressed and it is not uncommon for them to peck the weaker chickens (so I have read). I was really worried something was wrong with our flock. Then Saturday morning I got up to let them out and 5 more were dead. Naturally, I was really worried... After some research and posting a question on the Backyard Chicken Forum we decided the problem were predators. We have fixed the coop where hopefully nothing else can get in. We had some areas that folks on the forum pointed out could be places where an owl could squeeze through and there was some chicken wire on one side where we had not yet built the door to get to the nesting boxes which we haven't built yet, so a raccoon could reach in and grab a chicken pretty easily there. So, we have learned our lesson and I have learned to be a little less naive about what a critter will do for easy prey. Now, I have to decide whether to order more baby chicks and pay extra to only get a few or order 25 and hope hope hope someone will take some off my hands... I really love the chickens and what they bring to my life and to the life of our kids... anyone else want to raise chicks? It's a great learning experience and they really are so awesome!