Chickens agitated and many feathers lost, no eggs

[Heckety]

We have three laying hens who usually share a run and house happily, and have most days to free range. They have usually put themselves to bed by the time I come to secure the house for the night.

Last night, however, two of them were perched on the roof of a separate house we have for two smaller hens, and were reluctant to be housed for the night. There was a lot of clucking and fuss (compared with normal) early this morning, and the big girls' house had quite a few feathers from the two who didn't want to go to bed last night. There are no signs of intrusion and the few remaining pellets from yesterday hadn't been disturbed. The hens aren't fighting among themselves. There are no eggs this morning.

Could this just have been a temporary fight which is now over, could it be a pest such as a rat? We live in southern England where foxes and rats are common but raccoons and snakes are not.

Any advice, thoughts, suggestions welcome.

 

[JanieMarie]

Could they be coming into their molt? Or maybe they had a near miss with a fox and he couldn't get the hens so helped himself to the eggs? We have fox here too And I just heard of 3 being spotted just a couple miles from me so I suppose they'll be making their way to my farmstead because there arent very many people with chickens around me. Lost a few last year to them. Mine generally free range - the fox just take them away and unless you do a head count every night you wouldn't know you had a problem! Guess I better lock em up for awhile!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure what other predatros you might have in England, but it sounds like those two had a run-in with something in the coop. Maybe a feral cat or a small or immature weasel.

Chickens will often see an animal as either a predator or a potential protein source. Maybe they attacked something fairly small and got a surprise since they survived.