What are the chances my aunts chickens are still alive

[spankymcpants]

I am watching my aunts chickens for her and I let them out of their pen area at 6pm when I went to close them up at about 9pm there were only 2 of the 7 chickens in their coop. My aunt said that they would go back into it on their own.

I found a pile of feathers outside their coop which makes me think that some kind of predator got at least one them. But the feathers were all brown and 2 of the missing chickens are black which makes me think maybe a fox or something got one and the rest ran away to hide somewhere? Do chickens do this? What things should I do in the morning to try and find them and what kinds of places should I look?

I really hope they arent all dead I would feel really bad if that many of her chickens died while I was watching them.

They are all hens and there is her backyard which is open with a garden and lots of plants in it and her yard is surrounded by woods.

 

[easttxchick]

It's POSSIBLE that the predator only got one and the other got scared and flew into the trees. If that is the case-they should come down in the morning,

 

[kyoko900]

Lets see finding chickens hiding is like easter egg hunting you find some easy, others are harder.

Some places i would look are under the coop if it's raised up, under anything they could get under. I've seen my big meatie chicken drag herself under a kids wagon that she shouldn't have been able to get under. Other places are look in any place's like, under porches, behind boards(our little bantams hide behind a board when they're scared), in tall flowers and trees. If you have a ditch with a culvert pipe you should check there, our rooster ran in one after a dog tried to attack him (after the first time he was attacked

). If they're alive then after they calm down and think it's safe or they get hungry they will come back.
On the plus side the feathers you found may not mean their dead, we had a rooster when he was little fly in a dog lot and was attacked and made it with just scars and a bad eye. ^^

 

[jimmythechicken]

i would check the trees go out early an try to beat the preditor out there because it will be back for more chicken.goodluck an i hope yyooou find them

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I wish you good luck!
If most of the feathers you found were fluffy ones like from around the tail, legs, and back then there is hope. All those feathers are somewhat loose set, so when a predator grabs them, they rip out easy allowing for escape (think of a lizard loosing its tail) I had one dumb hen loose about 75 such feathers when a raccoon nearly got her. Found them all over the yard, enough you'd swear she had to be naked. But my heroic dog (who is currently cowering under my chair in fear of fireworks!) chased the varmint off and saved her. I couldn't find her in the dark and wasn't sure she made it till the morning when she came back for breakfast... and you'd barely know she was missing feathers at all!
On the other side, though, if the feathers you found were stiff wing/tail feathers.... those are difficult to rip out. If you found any big feathers, I would give up on that chicken. I only once found big tail feathers and a live chicken. A bantam roo I had as a kid. Poor thing was so ashamed of his bald rump that all he did was mope for 2 days... than vanished.Whether he died of shame, internal damage, or got snagged by a raccoon I do not know.
In any case it is entirely possible the other hens are fine. In the morning they will come back and will have mostly forgotten their traumatic experience by the next evening.

 

[geebs]

they hide... They dont' stick around to watch the others get eating.. they save themselves when possible...I hope you find em