BIG Pile of Feathers in yard...missing 4 chickens!!

[cheeptrick]

Went to town for a quick errand...LEFT the hens out...I never do that!!

Come home BIG PILE of feathers in the yard and I'm missing 4 chickens!!

2 EE Hens
1 Polish Rooster

Found his mate under the front porch hiding!!
1 Cuckoo Maran Hen I hatched out

We've searched the whole property...nothing

un I'm GETTING THAT GUN!!!!

 

[gamebirdsonly]

The sucks sorry for your lose.

 

[cheeptrick]

Thank you...1.5 years and NO losses...guess it was our time!!

My DD is very upset...walking around the property in a THUNDERSTORM crying and looking for them. When she saw the BIG pile of feathers she immediately started crying saying I'M so STUPID...I LEFT THEM OUT!! She feels so responsible for them...even though the whole family shares the responsibility!! That is more upsetting than losing the chickens!! Poor thing...she truly is a wonderful chicken owner.

She said...I'm going to FIND that FOX and KILL IT!!

 

[Cove View Farm]

oh that is so sad... I'm so sorry for your loss..I just came home today and I am missing one of my big hens... no sign of her anywhere...
and last week, I lost two to a neighbors dog. I think I'm going to have to lock everyone up from now on. It sucks when you lose them.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Please accept my condolences! How terrible to lose your girls.

You're teaching me - and all the other new eggs - a valuable lesson. We left our 4 outside unsupervised yesterday for about 30 mins to run an errand and came back to only find one. Luckily for us, the story had a happy ending and the 3 turdlings returned, scared out of their wits. It's a sad reminder that they're easy prey to nearly anything that comes along.

 

[chick4chicks]

I am so sorry for your loss. It is so hard when you lose any. I hope your DD feels better soon, accidents happen it still hurts tho. If you have other chicks treasure them all the more. it was a very hard lesson for all of you. Take care and know you have friends who care too.

e

 

[LuannKeller]

I am so sorry for you. I recently lost 7 to a neighbor's dog. He dug under the fence. It is so tempting to leave them out because they are enjoying the day...I know.

The guilt is terrible - we want so badly to keep them safe and feel awful when they fall victim to one of the many predators. You can't help but imagine their last moments of terror - but remember it was just moments and prior to that they were having a WONDERFUL free range life. If I was a chicken, I would trade the long life of a pen bound hen to shorter happy scratching life.

I had a treats and celebration time with my surviving girls - glad that they survived (only because I caught that monster in the act.) They still won't go into their coop...they know what happened there and that he may come back. The started laying eggs in my shed and hanging out there - smart girls.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

SO sorry for your loss! Mine are just now going to start going o utside. I worry so much about them! Hope your daughter will be ok...that is harder on kids then us that's for sure!

 

[cheeptrick]

Well...after searching the woods around our property...my DH and DD FOUND our most prized HEN Spot...we called her our Monty Python Chicken because she was always at the door or staring in the front window from the porch.

She was buried under a pile of leaves...we followed the HAWKS in the trees and found her buried under a huge PILE of leaves! I heard my DD SCREAM...and ran into the woods...and there she was crying and carrying poor spot thru the foliage. It was VERY upsetting to me...we had a dog ran over in front of us when we were kids. My little brother picked up our dog from under the car and RAN screaming all the way home. I was on a MOPED and was going 35 miles an HOUR and could NOT keep up with my poor distraught brother. I'm very upset to see my own DD walking out of the woods holding her dead chicken...

We buried her and she was so brave and kept the deceased from her little sisters to not upset them.

We cut off her leg band and put her in the grave. We said a prayer for Spot and then I left her for some quiet time. Then she came in and asked her sisters to come out and say their goodbyes...they put flowers on the grave and a nice rock.

DH is in SHOCK...MAD...found several fox holes in the woods surrounding our property.
Still no sign of Ignacio EE Hen or Polish Roo or Cuckoo Maran Hen...hopefully they are hiding and will come back soon!!

PLEASE ALL...NEVER GET COMFORTABLE WITH LEAVING THEM UNATTENDED!!

 

[chickenannie]

once I had just a big pile of feathers left, but no flesh or bone or blood anywhere in sight -- that is a hawk. I think a fox wouldn't leave so many feathers. sorry about your loss.