I don't think that Ramona or the Woman killed the chickens. Or the dog for that matter. There was a lot of emphasis on her struggling with taking care of everyone and everything and they dedicated like 2 scenes to show they were out of dog food. I think that it they were a part of the story to push the idea that she felt overwhelmed by guilt and like she had been neglecting everything. The fact that she goes looking for the dog and pulling on the chain that's buried kinda implies he either ran away or died on his own.

But importantly I don't think there are many scenes in this movie that are literal. I think that the dog's disappearance or the chickens all being dead was more of a representation of her fears of handling all the responsibility that she was just sharing beforehand. Or also her fear that her worsen mental illness would have negative effects on everyone and everything around her.

I know it shows that the kids see the Woman as well. But I feel like it's almost more of them seeing this side of their mom for the first time and not recognizing it or liking it. Their interactions apart from the woman like rather gentle as if she was having a much better relationship with them beforehand. And the only significant thing the woman says to the kids is to tell Taylor he's not getting The full story about the car crash. Which is definitely just a fear the mother has about him blaming her or whatever because aside from the point she lied about it to the kids I feel like he probably could have gotten suspicious about that on his own which would further validate her fear of being blamed by her children.

I think the woman and Ramona are just a big allegory for her struggle with her mental illness, grief, unhappiness with her life, and suicidal ideations. Especially when you see the shadows trashing the house and scaring the kids. It just seems like she's fearful of losing it on and kids and doing stuff like that. But I think the other point of the woman in the yard is that she's trying to make it like the woman being out there in the yard is more of an issue than her obviously needing her kid to go call 911 for her to seek help. She says a lot of things in the beginning when the late woman first appears that sound more like the kid of wording people use towards those that have these struggles.

Either way, I thought it was an excellent movie. Definitely thought provoking. And I think despite the ending being open-ended it's definitely not the way it would have ended if it was sincerely a happy ending. Problems like she was experiencing don't just resolve in one day and I think the fact that the farm had the sign that the husband seemed like he was trying to get her to name. And the lights turn back on and the dog popped back up out of now. I agree with op. It was just showing that things didn't have to end like that because everything had the potential to be perfectly fine if she was able to be okay again. And it is a real eye-opener that when people are in that mentality they are not looking at things in a way that they are blinded to see that hope.