Left for work this morning and since we built a new coop and did not get the fence put up yet, I let my chickens free range. They usually free range only when I am home, but all is usually well. And I figure, what's the difference if I am home and inside vs not home, right? (wrong) Came home for lunch, which I never do cause it's not real close to work and found only 3 birds (and my broody hen) left, out of 12! I know there is a fox around and I see hawks flying around, but my birds are real good at avoiding the hawks. I have watched them when the hawks fly, and I can't imagine that even a pair of hawks would take 9 birds, especailly since pickles was a huge chicken. Fox? I suppose it could be anything. No signs of any fight at all, no tracks that I could see, nothing. the 3 birds that are left were in the coop when I got home (but it is raining). I am very upset, I knew that this sort of thing could happen, but I expected large numbers to be missing if something happened at night, not during the day. 9, 9 freakin chickens, all the show birds I bought!!! Hopefully the broody hen comes through with some chicks this week. omg,
UPDATE:
well, it's been many hours and we spent all afternoon looking for them, no signs at all. very odd, these were not mouth sized birds either, I don't see how a coyote/fox could carry more than 1 at 1 time. but I don't know. I am gonna close the coop up for the night as the sun is setting and hope I get some returning in the morning. I am not very hopefull though. It is almost feasible that someone came and took my birds, but they are real hard to catch, but there are only 3 mutt chickens missing and all the rest were not. grrrr, stupid me, plenty of room in the coop.
Update #2 3/24/10
1 chicken came home yesterday morning, it had rained all day yesterday, but today it is sunny. Searched for 3 hours this mornin and no sign, no crowing, no feathers, no blood. getting tired and running out of ideas. I thought maybe a birdnapping via people, but idk, doesn't seem likely. Seems as though something scared them away, hope more return.
UPDATE:
well, it's been many hours and we spent all afternoon looking for them, no signs at all. very odd, these were not mouth sized birds either, I don't see how a coyote/fox could carry more than 1 at 1 time. but I don't know. I am gonna close the coop up for the night as the sun is setting and hope I get some returning in the morning. I am not very hopefull though. It is almost feasible that someone came and took my birds, but they are real hard to catch, but there are only 3 mutt chickens missing and all the rest were not. grrrr, stupid me, plenty of room in the coop.
Update #2 3/24/10
1 chicken came home yesterday morning, it had rained all day yesterday, but today it is sunny. Searched for 3 hours this mornin and no sign, no crowing, no feathers, no blood. getting tired and running out of ideas. I thought maybe a birdnapping via people, but idk, doesn't seem likely. Seems as though something scared them away, hope more return.
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