gone without a clue.

About 11pm tonight I heard something at the door. Go to look and its my wyandotte hen! We must have all forgot to close the coop up. Shine a light out in the yard and one hens laying out there. Thinking the worst we go grab her and shes fine. But something got a hold of her in the coop bc there is a huge chunk of her feathers in there. Start gettting them all together and realize our game hen is missing. By far our most flighty bird and there is not a feather one or sign of a struggle, no trace whatsoever! Their coop is about 3 ft off the ground if that helps narrow it down any. I have caught the neighbors cat taking a swipe at them and they are banties so they're very small. Could this be the cat or something else? They always go to their coop at dusk so something 100% ran them out of there tonight. We're hearbroken, I hope shes just hiding out somewhere but we searched the yard really good, it doesnt look good :/

If there's no sign don't give up, I've had hens go missing after a cat or dog had a chase and they turned up the next day. I hope that's the case for you!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. It could have been a cat, but much more likely to be a coon or skunk or fox, ..not sure what predators you have in your area.

Whatever it is, it will come back so be extra careful!

Given that your game bird is so flighty, there is a good chance that she will turn up in the morning.

First don’t beat yourself up too much. You’re not the first person to forget to lock them up, but I bet it will be a long time before you forget again.

It is possible she will show up by the time you read this. Hope so.

It could have been almost anything, raccoon, cat, dog, possum, skunk, bobcat, or other things. I had an owl go into a coop once when I was late locking them up. What it was isn’t important as long as your coop is strong enough. It’s worked so far, but inspect it just to be sure.

I do wish you luck!

She's home safe! She somehow cleared 2 6 ft privacy fences and a nice neighbor put her in his garage for the night. He will be getting a batch of treats or something, I can only imagine how loud she was being without her flock. Game camera going up today & bet your last dollar I'll be out with the trusty 22 tonight to end a varmints life!

So it is the neighbors cat. Figures, it's happened during the day and at night and that's all that's on the game camera the last 2 nights. My poor silkie takes the brunt of it and has been attacked multiple times. But this time was much worse, she's missing so many feathers and is very scared. She's been staying at the door constantly

what bbqjoe said!!

Nelli D said:

So it is the neighbors cat. Figures, it's happened during the day and at night and that's all that's on the game camera the last 2 nights. My poor silkie takes the brunt of it and has been attacked multiple times. But this time was much worse, she's missing so many feathers and is very scared. She's been staying at the door constantly

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Nelli D:
You will have to do some predator protection to your run. I don't know your situation or how much room you have. If you free range or not. So some suggestions that you can consider or modify to suit your situation are:

The least costly is to make sure you have a fenced in run that includes fencing a long the top to keep climbing predators (cats, raccoons, possums) out.
If you have a fence around your property you could run an electric wire a few inches along the top.
If you like to have them free ranging you can get an electric net fencing. This option is costly but you can take it up and move it around easily.

BBQJOE:
Didn't particularly find that humorous. I understand your a controversial individual, but please have some courtesy to people who have and love cats as pets. Thank you.

Free Spirit said:

Nelli D:
You will have to do some predator protection to your run. I don't know your situation or how much room you have. If you free range or not. So some suggestions that you can consider or modify to suit your situation are:

The least costly is to make sure you have a fenced in run that includes fencing a long the top to keep climbing predators (cats, raccoons, possums) out.
If you have a fence around your property you could run an electric wire a few inches along the top.
If you like to have them free ranging you can get an electric net fencing. This option is costly but you can take it up and move it around easily.

BBQJOE:
Didn't particularly find that humorous. I understand your a controversial individual, but please have some courtesy to people who have and love cats as pets. Thank you.

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As a cat lover, thank you. I've had cats all my life ... indoor only. I know they can wreak havoc on the bird population, but I keep them indoors for their own safety. Win/win.