Possible fox?

Chicken poppy

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May 9, 2021
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Earlier today, the flock seemed quite spooked (freeranging) we saw nothing in the sky and figured it would be alright. We went inside and they were right outside the kitchen window (where i was at making them some food) 3 of them vanished. There was no crazy freakout. They were panicked, coming into the yard, rooster crowing a bit. But no “emergency call” noise they make, just some clucking. They have made a bigger fuss off a lawn mower or crows.
I went out there in search of the missing 3 and found 2 in the neighbors bush, they had somehow hopped the fence in a panic. They all were in strange places when i went out. Rooster was in the middle of the sidewalk, 2 in the driveway, 2 in the bush, one at the back door in the yard looking for help, and the last one, Emily (my favorite) gone.
By the gate (where they were before the panic) there was a pile of Emily’s feathers, Most of them fluffy, but 3/4 looked like wing feathers.
She is a bantam cochin, by the way.

For hours we searched for her, looking in a few of our neighbors yard (with permission, of course) And we looked EVERYWHERE. i went in the back of our forest, side of our forest, across the street, in bushes, under cars, in the garage, in the fenced area, under the carport. She was nowhere to be found. The only clue we had was feathers which seemed quite scattered aside from the pile. Now, the wind was blowing so they could have blown, but i saw 2 feathers by our firepit (In the forest area to the right) that seemed against the wind, some by the garage which i think blew, and in front of our house by the car.

I thought i heard a cluck but that might have been my imagination. There was no signs of her, no blood, nothing. I miss her so much, and obviously won’t be letting the others freerange for a while..

Was this a fox? Its night now, im worried she could be suffering somewhere. Its cold and im sure shes scared (if shes alive..) Is it possible she could come back? Should i keep looking for a while longer?

Is there anything at all i can do for her? We keep the gate closed where the chicken coop is. If shes outside, she has no way back in. Shes horrible at “flying” and is quite scared of heights.
I have a tiny brown coop but requires a small jump to get in. Is it worth putting it out there incase she finds her way back?
 
If it's not too much trouble to put out the little coop, it wouldn't hurt to have a spot for her. ... hoping for the best.
Its easy to carry out, i will do that tomorrow morning. Should i put it near the gate?

Do you think she would walk around in the dark? Im not sure how good their vision is at nighttime so i just wanted to ask.
 
Its easy to carry out, i will do that tomorrow morning. Should i put it near the gate?

Do you think she would walk around in the dark? Im not sure how good their vision is at nighttime so i just wanted to ask.
If it's already dark, I'd be surprised. But, if she did make it near by and got spooked again, who knows? I've read that chickens can't see in the dark. I've read that they can. I never did any testing on my own.

I'd think morning would be more likely.
 
I have heard of stories of chickens coming back weeks or even a month later, but i don’t know how long she would survive out there.. They just eat bugs and chicken food/seeds or berries, that kind of stuff. They don’t eat mice or anything like that. Plus, there is no bugs really sense its winter (no snow as of now, though it has, its all melted)

Im worried she would eventually starve or get dehydrated. I guess i can just hope that she finds her way back or isn’t to far from our house.
 
I have heard of stories of chickens coming back weeks or even a month later, but i don’t know how long she would survive out there.. They just eat bugs and chicken food/seeds or berries, that kind of stuff. They don’t eat mice or anything like that. Plus, there is no bugs really sense its winter (no snow as of now, though it has, its all melted)

Im worried she would eventually starve or get dehydrated. I guess i can just hope that she finds her way back or isn’t to far from our house.
It she survived this long, I'd guess there's a good chance she'll be back. Unfortunately, I doubt the odds are in your favor.
 
A unfortunate update: when talking to a neighbor, they spotted a red fox with a furless tail except a puff at the end. Right at her house, by her trashcans (i think) trying to get into them.

The more i thought about this, the more something came to mind. Mange.

I researched it a bit, and im very confident that fox had mange. I hear foxes with it are starving, on a crazy food drive (because they get skinny from a parasitic mite)
This fox was spotted today in broad daylight by a neighbor infront us directly.

I feel like this fox may have killed her (but im really, really trying to tell myself otherwise)

I have no idea where this fox is now, but considering mange is treatable, i think im going to try to reach out so it doesn’t suffer.

Does this sound like a good plan? Or is it useless considering quite some time has passed?


Also, this might not have been what got her, because we also spotted a hawk in our neighbors yard, around the same spot, on the ground, then fly off. (We looked in the bush where it was at and she was not spotted, though)
I really don’t know what to do at this point. On one hand, i want to look for her again, and give it my all. What if i find her injured? I would feel awful abandoning her and not looking anymore.

On the other hand. I don’t want to look. I want to remember her as the energetic baby that i saw in her last moments. Not a lifeless, limp injured body with missing feathers.

Do they abandon their meal when their finished, or bury it? I apologize for all the questions, but if they don’t bury it i don’t think i can go looking for her, i would be horribly sad to see her body.
 
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A unfortunate update: when talking to a neighbor, they spotted a red fox with a furless tail except a puff at the end. Right at her house, by her trashcans (i think) trying to get into them.

The more i thought about this, the more something came to mind. Mange.

I researched it a bit, and im very confident that fox had mange. I hear foxes with it are starving, on a crazy food drive (because they get skinny from a parasitic mite)
This fox was spotted today in broad daylight by a neighbor infront us directly.

I feel like this fox may have killed her (but im really, really trying to tell myself otherwise)

I have no idea where this fox is now, but considering mange is treatable, i think im going to try to reach out so it doesn’t suffer.

Does this sound like a good plan? Or is it useless considering quite some time has passed?


Also, this might not have been what got her, because we also spotted a hawk in our neighbors yard, around the same spot, on the ground, then fly off. (We looked in the bush where it was at and she was not spotted, though)
I really don’t know what to do at this point. On one hand, i want to look for her again, and give it my all. What if i find her injured? I would feel awful abandoning her and not looking anymore.

On the other hand. I don’t want to look. I want to remember her as the energetic baby that i saw in her last moments. Not a lifeless, limp injured body with missing feathers.

Do they abandon their meal when their finished, or bury it? I apologize for all the questions, but if they don’t bury it i don’t think i can go looking for her, i would be horribly sad to see her body.
I am so very sorry for your loss. I lost three chickens, two little bitty Silkies and my only Frizzle to what I believe was a fox. The neighbor had a picture on his night cam. It came right into my yard and took the Frizzle during the day. I was outside with my chickens and had stepped inside. When i went back out, he was gone, and everybody was scared and squawking. It is so hard to lose them. I hadn't had a predator problem in months and was a little too complacent. I am working on a completely enclosed and covered run.
 
The last fox I sent to his new hunting grounds had one of my neighbor’s free range chickens in his mouth when I neutralized him. The thing that fought my attention was the chicken squawking. By the time I got my shotgun, the fox had caught the chicken. The fox had the chicken in his mouth but had not killed it. He appeared to be running away when I interrupted his plan.

The chicken lived, the fox didn’t.
 
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