My Girl Ran away! Can anyone answer questions to help me find her?

[fb32108]

[[SOLVED!!! Story on last page]]

one of my Rhode Island Red hens ran away!

Home description: House is a .25 Acre lot with a 7 ft fenced in backyard, and 8 mature oak trees lining the fence. House in on a subdivision off the highway. with a bean field across the street and corn on either side of the subdivision parallel the highway.

Situation: Already had 5 girls in my flock and added two Rhode Island Red hens two days ago. at first i had the two Rhode Island Reds in the run and the rest would come in and out using the human door. they were getting along fine so yesterday i opened the door. they established the pecking order and went about their business. everything was great. then a family emergency came up and i had to leave the property. I thought everything would be just fine. I came back after 4 hrs and all the hens were in the coop except for one of the new Rhode Island Reds. I looked all around the property in the trees and up and down the subdivision with no luck. At lunch today i went back and looked again and she was not back.

Help request:

What can i do?

How far can chickens run?

is there a way i can get her to come back?

Since she is new to my property will she even think to come back?

how long before i give up?

is there a good resource website that i can use to post lost pets info?


thanks in advance for your help! I love this community of chicken lovers who help each other out.

 

[Newmamabear]

Do you think there are any predators out and about? Do your ladies usually go back to the coop midday when they are free ranging? Something may have picked off your little red and the rest may have gone into hiding. I know with all the combining around our place the hawks are out full force chasing the meeses and gophers so they have found an easy target. I'd say keep your other ladies in for a day or two and hopefully she hears them and she rejoins them.

Good luck!

 

[fb32108]

Im sure there are, we live in the country in the middle of farms, however i have had my girls for more than 5 months with no incident. Also we just got rid of our roosters for about two months and there has been no problems. they usually go in when its dark so nothing out of the ordinary other than the new RIR joining them in the coop for the night which is normal... I have attached a aerial for reference. Because of all the trees i think that we are safer from hawks because the girls arent normally out in the middle of the yard.

 

[chickens really]

That is not good....Keep looking for her...Once you do find her, here is a tip...keep the new birds in the coop and run for two weeks till they are established in the routine and know your coop is home...A scared Bird will run far or just wander off if having no home base.....

Sorry for your loss

 

[Newmamabear]

Neat pic, she may have taken off down the tree line to your neighbors yard? Any other coops/chickens close by that she may have adopted? I hate to say the road but any signs of foul play in traffic? No tuft of feathers or sign anywhere? Not that it rules out predators. Did you come home after dark or was I mistaken that it was mid day when she was gone? Hmmm I hope you find her

 

[Gray Farms]

Chances are a predator got her, not that she ran away.

 

[fb32108]

I dont think she ran in the road, i dont see any feathers. I did come home after dark. Do you guys know where they like to hide? How far i should expand my search radius?

I know there are predators but her wings were not cliped and she could easily jump a 7 ft fence

 

[Newmamabear]

If she's still not back in a day or two I would have to say she was probably taken by a predator, if she's good for a 7 foot fence then she's good for a 30' tree just because she can go from branch to branch. If one of mine stays out "camping" and doesn't go into roost then they go way up into our trees or is waiting when I open the run for the morning.

 

[Newmamabear]

Was she a free range chicken before you got her? They tend to be a million times street smarter if they've been raised outdoors and aware of danger

 

[fb32108]

She was part of a larger flock of free range chickens.