Any chance they are still alive?

JerseyWooly

In the Brooder
10 Years
Oct 5, 2009
16
0
22
I have two chickens- pets, really. I have a small cage in the house where they sleep every night, and I put them out in the morning when I go to work. Every night, when it gets dark, they show up on the window sill and tap on the glass. I bring them in and give them some treat, and put them to bed.

I have been building a run and a coop for them so that now when it gets dark earlier, they will be safe until I get home. But tonight, it got dark before I got home. I expected to see them sitting on the window sill. Nothing. I waited- sometimes they are a little late and I've had more than one scare. Still nothing. The window sill is pretty high up, so if they made it there by nightfall, I don't know what would have attacked them.

I still have hopes they are hiding out somewhere keeping quiet in a bush or something. Would chickens EVER stay out all night? Could they survive all night in the semi-wild without getting eaten? I am leaving my garage open all night and all the outside lights on in case, but I don't know if I am just being silly.

I have two acres, and I do have my share of deer, racoons, and turkey, and last summer I saw a fox, but it is not like this place is teaming with wildlife. Plus, my neighbors have chickens and the only time they ever had trouble was when a racoon got into the hen house and the poor chickens couldn't get away.
 
Just from my personal experience( if you want to keep them pen them)I live in north central arkansas and coons will reak havoc on baby chicks or any chickens for that matter.My advice to you would be to find them and hopefully tonight!oh ya by the way a good dog is priceless.
 
We had a hen who was grabbed by our dog. When he put her down she ran off into the woods. (We live in the middle of 250 acres of woods, by the way, with coons, foxes, coyotes, roaming dogs, hawks, owls, etc.) She showed up a week later walking around the coop waiting to be let in. Good luck!
 
Hopefully it was their bedtime so they just found themselves a safe place to sleep. I've had that happen. Keep us posted. You might can find them some where close to where you let them in if you look around with a light.
 
Yes, I would take a flashlight and look up HIGH in the trees around your house. I bet they have found a "cozy" place to sleep. They get very nervous about being settled by the time it is dark. We will cross our fingers and keep us posted!!
fl.gif
 
Thanks for the shockingly upbeat comments. I'm new at the chicken game. I didn't know what to expect but I had the creeping feeling they'd already gone to the big run in the sky.

I've been outside and around the house with a flashlight multiple times with no luck. I was expecting the worst, but didn't even find a feather. They aren't laying yet, but as chickens go, they are already about full grown and darn big so they are hard to miss.

I'll leave food and water out every morning, and I'll post when there's a break.
 
they are already about full grown and darn big so they are hard to miss

They can squeeze into some surprisingly small spaces. I had one wedge itself between the recycle bin and the house, maybe 2 inches tops. I found her after I searched my yard the neighbor's yards and so on, in the dark. Good luck- hope she shows up.

Imp​
 
Last edited:
I've got my fingers crossed for you. We lost 5 hens and a rooster one night. We searched everywhere for them. It was dusk and a little hard to see, but we found them - 10 feet up our orange tree! We have one stubborn hen who still prefers roosting in the orange tree if we are a little late in calling them in for the night.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom