Any ideas what can make 9 chickens disappear in 4 1/2 hours?

[babyblue]

my thoughts would be a human thief. the economy is in the can right now and some people are really hungry. I as a parent know that if my kids were hungry and I was desperate there wouldn’t be a whole lot I wouldn’t do to feed them, even walking threw some woods and grabbing chickens. if that is what happened in your case yup, Id be ticked and I would get upset. but I would also think that my birds may have gone, meat or eggs to feed somebody’s little kids. I would use padlocks and probably lock my chickens up tight for the long time future though.

 

[Chickens-246]

I find it hard to believe that someone stole them, the chickens were free ranging at the time. Catching a loose chicken is very difficult, a thief would wait till they are penned up. My crew is scared to dead of anyone but me.

 

[babyblue]

egh all you have to do to catch my girls is crinkle a plastic bag and pretend to throw food. or yell girls peaches and boy do the little fatties come running.

 

[Chickens-246]

Like I said, mine are scared to death of strangers, yours aren't?

 

[rcentner]

as far as the human birdnapping goes, I was thinking...how the heck would they have caught Walter, I couldn't catch him unless he was roosted for the night and even then it was a task. They were free ranging and I really bet it was a fox. I looked all morning, with no luck. I think I have to give up and hope that 1 or 2 arrive soon. Flash came back yesterday and it made me laugh because her name is flash for a reason, super fast bird. I have 1 more neighbor to get in touch with to peek in his barns. The only good thing I can make out of this is that my broody hen (my 1st) has chirping under her and I wondered what the other chickens were gonna do with the chicks and now I don't need to worry about that. If I was a religious person, this would the perfect time to use the phrase "god works in mysterious ways". so, if there is a god, I hope my chickens are in heaven free ranging in the sun.

I will post if I get more chickens returning home, but I have lost hope at this point. Even if they did survive the initial attack, it rained for 2 days and was pretty darn cold last night, ice coated everything last night. Not to mention that if they are trying to make it home, they must avoid the fox and the hawks on the way. This is one hard lesson to learn about free ranging. sorry to my chickens, but free ranging is over. fenced run or coop, not to mention my DH is super upset and in his rant about why I should not have let them out he swears he will get rid of all the chickens and we will never have them again.

 

[Chickens-246]

That's good that you have replacements already going. Death is an unfortunate part of owning chickens. I lost 7 last summer in various ways and I was at the point of throwing in the towel because of the emotional drain. But I'm so looking forward to a new batch of chicks in a week or so, they are such a joy watching them grow.

 

[rcentner]

I have 3 little fuzzies under mama right now, it will be the missing members living legacy as this chicken stole all the eggs from that coop, for a whole week, to sit on. So I will have offspring from every hen in that coop of which 3 are missing. The roo was a match to one of the hens so if I am lucky I may get their offspring and have some purebred chickens out of that hatch.
Of the ones who survived, 3 are true survivors..I got them from a guy who was experiencing heavy predation and lost 25 chickens in 1 month, I got the last 5 and only 2 of them are missing.

I am still gonna keep an eye out for the missing members, but I am sure they are gone. Hopefully the chicks keep my mind off my loss. Thanks all

 

[Kittymomma]

Well it doesn't sound very good, but I wouldn't give up entirely until you're able to check your neighbors barn. With the wet weather you've been having those barns probably looked pretty good if they scattered in that direction and couldn't find their way home.

 

[ivan3]

The first thing that comes to mind is fox. You mentioned a neighbor's `barns'. If they are not being used the den could be there (have seen this before). Check for `runs' (paths) along fence lines. Fox like to build their dens on south facing hillsides/south side of big snags (dead trees). The den will often be between 200-300 yds from the location where the attack occurred/cache located (if wooded area). If you do find a cache (buried or just piles of feathers) start searching from that location and observe for scat/tracks/hair stuck on vegetation/fencing (they like to travel along fence lines - good places to set snares).

A baby monitor in coop is helpful (if there are any breeding foxes in the neighborhood you'll hear them yipping at night - coons breeding sound like someone screaming while being choked).

They are pretty brazen and fearless once they get a taste of chook. This `overconfidence' accounts for our having shot more of these `invasive ornamentals' than we've taken with traps and snares.

Could well be another species of vermin, but I'd first want to eliminate foxes from the list of suspects: some more info. on doing so: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=31544&p=1

Let the chooks range when you all are around. Planning and executing a pred. suppression scheme is really not much more time consuming than that spent examining chooks for blood sucking mites and the poisoning of any that turn up with Eprinex. It is time well spent as it decreases one's anxiety level and allows one to enjoy the flock when they are out and about.

ed:sp

 

[babyblue]

Quote:
strangers with food? nope, they would gladly all run to their chicken doom.



R, Im glad you have some babies from all or most of them, that would make me happy too. any chance you have pictures yet?