Chicken gone wild?

[chicken-tender]

Not sure where to post this. In late June some of my 8 week old chicks got over my line fence. I am in Southwest Michigan somewhat in the country. Every one around has at least 1 acre, one that connects at the back corner of my place has 40+ acres. That area of two of my neighbors is quite over grown with dense brush and trees. When my chicks got out in June, I lost one. The rest I was able to recover. The lost one I gave up on after about 4 days, the brush is just to heavy to see or catch any chicken. We have a lot of coyotes, raccoons, skunks etc in the area. The bird in question is a full Partridge Chantecler that we hatched from birds we have gotten for Ideal Hatchery the year before. Recently, I was told by one neighbor that they see this bird every morning but cannot get close, another has told me the same thing but they see the bird in the PM. As soon as you approach, she heads into the deep brush. We have tried nets, traps and herding with no luck. I have a gate in the fence that I have left open for over a month and scattered cracked corn inside the fence on my side where she could see the other chickens bit no luck. She is now about 24 weeks old and appears to be in good health, looks to be about the same size as the others that hatched when she did.

It is now October. The bird has been loose for over 3 months. Since I cannot catch her (it is a pullet/hen), I don't feel right letting her stay until a coyote catches her. I am considering taking her with an air rifle.

Has anyone else had this type of a problem? Any ideas on ways to trap her? A large live trap as used for 'coons etc will not work, she is too wary. We cannot get close enough to use a net. Also there is the question of do I want to return her to the flock? Will she teach the rest to live in the wild? Has she picked up any illness or parasites that she could transmit to the rest?

 

[kcan2]

The neighbor that sees her in the PM - did they tell you if it is near dusk? If so, perhaps she is roosting somewhere in close proximity. It's possible to get them down out of the tree, if you can find the tree, of course. Shadrach wrote an article about the technique:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/getting-chickens-out-of-trees-and-into-their-coops.75511/

I realize that locating her roost would probably be a challenge, though...

A few years ago, I had a wild chicken visiting my yard that had gotten away from it's original flock. He spent the summer mysteriously appearing and reappearing (just like your girl). He would run away as soon as he saw people. One night, when he was still acting wild, he did go into our open garage and looked for a place to roost. Possibly your neighbors could try leaving a garage or shed open...? What finally tamed him was his seeing my other rooster eat food that I would put out under a tree. I eventually got him to go into a crate for some scrambled eggs, and caught him. It took some time, and a cooperative influence/helper with my tame rooster so trust could be established. The open garage was much easier!

I hope you can catch her, and think it's great that you are being responsible for her welfare!

 

[raingarden]

They usualy turn themself in when they're hungry. But, if she's finding enough to eat and can avoid you then maybe she can avoid the predators as well.

 

[chicken-tender]

Kcan2, I reread Shadrach's article, I have not been able to find where she is roosting but honestly, I need to try harder. I looked at night and I guess I will start treating it like a turkey hunt, going out earlier and see if I can heard her fly up to roost. I think she is staying within a couple of acres area that is not very close to buildings and so far she seems to avoid those that are anywhere near her.

Raingarden- she may be finding enough to eat now but with winter comes a couple of feet of snow thus less available food and hungrier coyotes, raccoons and feral house cats. They and other issues have about wiped out the wild pheasant population hereabout. Therefore I don't hold much hope for her the longer she stays out there, the lower her chances of survival become. But if I cannot catch her, we may find out if that is true.

 

[chicken-tender]

Nearly caught her to nite. She comes out to peck around for gravel(?) on a farm drive very near some dense brush. With the leaves gone, we can now see her easier. Managed to run her into the line fence but then neither of us could get there before she turned back to the brush and we lost her. She is about 1/2 the size of her sisters that hatched when she did. I guess she is not finding food as much as she needs to grow. Once it snows we will be able to track her much easier and hopefully catch her as the snow should slow her down the first day or so anyway.

 

[kcan2]

Nearly caught her to nite. She comes out to peck around for gravel(?) on a farm drive very near some dense brush. With the leaves gone, we can now see her easier. Managed to run her into the line fence but then neither of us could get there before she turned back to the brush and we lost her. She is about 1/2 the size of her sisters that hatched when she did. I guess she is not finding food as much as she needs to grow. Once it snows we will be able to track her much easier and hopefully catch her as the snow should slow her down the first day or so anyway.

Wow, great news that you were that close to catching her! Here's hoping that your next update will be that you've caught her so we can all give a collective cheer! Silly hen, doesn't she know anything about MI winters?

 

[chicken-tender]

I caught her!! After about 21 weeks living in the wild, and surviving 5 days of complete snow cover, I finally caught my wild hen, today Nov 22. Not sure if the snow impeded her that much or if she was just weak from lack of food, but I was able to run her down.
She weights 2 lbs 4.5 oz She was hatched on May 2 of this year, went wild about the 27th of June and survived about 21 weeks in the woods. She stayed in about a three acre plot and seems to have been roosting on the ground. Her two hatch mates (sisters) weight 4 lbs 1 oz and 3 lbs 9.7 oz. all are pure Partridge Chanteclers, bred from Ideal Hatchery stock from Texas.
I have her separated from the other chickens right now because she is so much smaller than the rest and to make sure she is not carrying something.

Here is picture of her. Except for her size and light weight, she seems to be in pretty good condition.

 

[Sussex19]

Wow! I am amazed that she survived that long, and that you managed to catch her!

 

[Isadora]

Awesome, great job!

 

[chicken-tender]

I feel sure an abundance of rabbits and two feet of snow were contributing factors, along with three watchful neighbors; that and a lot of prayers.