Chicken thought to be dead was seen in neighbors yard (.5 miles away). What can I do to get her back?

[MooseLovesTwigs]

We had a predator (fox or coyote I think) that was able to get past and force open our 6 ft wooden fence's gate (a week or so ago). 3 hens missing after a count and some signs of a kill just outside of the fence. We looked around and didn't see any sign of our birds so eventually we assumed the worst. 4+ days later (tonight) my mother was going to take the dog to the park in town and on the way to the highway she saw, what she is pretty much positive was, one of the hens sitting on the interior fence of one of our neighbors property. It was already sundown and there were no cars parked at the house. She didn't know what she could do so she came home and told me about what she saw. She isn't on good terms with the neighbor. Anyways, I was hoping people here might give us advice on what we can do to save our hen from starving/freezing to death or being eaten by feral cats or coyotes/foxes. This has never really happened before (hens escaping) and this neighbor is so far away (about half a mile away and 3-4 homes between ours) that we never expected to be in this kind of a situation with them. My only concern is for the poor little hen that was likely attacked and chased from her home and is now facing a terrible fate. Any suggestions would be appreciated on how we/me could go about getting her back with minimal conflict. We are located in Colorado and are allowed to have chickens/roosters in the area we live (most of us here do have them). Thanks in advance and I'm sorry if I posted in wrong category or anything, I'm not a frequent poster on here.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

You could walk up to their front door and tell them you think your chicken ended up in their yard and you would like to retrieve her. Worth a try.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Sorry you lost your other hens

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Do you have a picture of your hen before they got her? They might be ok with returning her, but if you've lost all your other birds, she might be good to stay there.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

If its your chicken grab it and bring it home thats what I would do why would your neighbors want your chicken sitting on their fence seems pretty straightforward to me

Sorry, but I don't think that'll be good. That could be worse. They could get accused of trespassing, and stealing livestock. Not good.

 

[Suzz]

Sorry, but I don't think that'll be good. That could be worse. They could get accused of trespassing, and stealing livestock. Not good.

Sorry just rethought that after. I wrote it but like ladiesand jane said just go and askthat way you dont have to be worried about it

 

[MooseLovesTwigs]

Sorry you lost your other hens

Thanks, it has been a couple years since we lost any so we were surprised to see the gate was open. It might have happened because of some very high wind we had around that day but there were bloody feathers just outside so there definitely was a predator involved at some point. We still have the majority of our flock though, not sure if I made it seem like we lost all our chickens but we still have about 60 left. Still sad to lose one though.

 

[MooseLovesTwigs]

You could walk up to their front door and tell them you think your chicken ended up in their yard and you would like to retrieve her. Worth a try.

Yeah, I think this is what we are gonna try first thing in the morning!

 

[MooseLovesTwigs]

Do you have a picture of your hen before they got her? They might be ok with returning her, but if you've lost all your other birds, she might be good to stay there.

We do have some pictures of the flock but not individual chickens. I wouldn't even mind if they kept her and took care of her but they no longer have any birds and their chicken coop looked like it had been abandoned for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if they were living somewhere else from the way the whole property looked. I'm sorry if it sounded like I said that all my birds got eaten but only 3 were unaccounted for out of about 60.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

We do have some pictures of the flock but not individual chickens. I wouldn't even mind if they kept her and took care of her but they no longer have any birds and their chicken coop looked like it had been abandoned for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if they were living somewhere else from the way the whole property looked. I'm sorry if it sounded like I said that all my birds got eaten but only 3 were unaccounted for out of about 60.

Oh, ok. I thought they had a bunch of birds, and you had none. I'd just go tell them what had happened, and ask off you could please get your bird. When I caught someone's lost chicken, and they saw I had it in a cage, they asked me if that was my bird. I told them no, and that I had just found it, they told me what had happened. I gave them back their bird, and only asked what her name was. We were all good about it. Hopefully your neighbors will be too.