chickens never came home to roost

[D rizzle]

So I have 4 hens. They have a shed where they roost and a f3enced in area connected to that for their run. For the past year and a half that I've had chickens I've usually kept them in the run most of the time and let them out for a couple hours a day to wander...

Lately I've been letting them out for the majority of the day. At night I check on them, make sure they've all came back, close the gate to their run and that's it. Right now it's been dark for 3 hours and there is only one chicken accounted for. My yard is one acre--up till now they've always stayed within that boundary.

It's hard to imagine a predator grabbing all three of them.

Maybe they've just gotten too wild, too much time out, and now they've wandered?

Or a fox or whatever grabbed one, and they other two spooked and haven't made it home yet?

I'll make their "hey I got treats" noise to try and lure them back in the morning, if they're not there already.

I've searched the property and adjacent areas with a flashlight, of course. Is there anything else I should do?

Any other thoughts?


Thanks

 

[sourland]

Lock your one hen up safely. Get up early and check - hopefully one or more will return. Coyotes, fox, bobcats and even dogs frequently make multiple kills. Hopefully this is not the instance in your situation. Gool luck.

 

[D rizzle]

All three came back.


I think they got to wild for they're own good. I'll keep them fenced in they're 30 x 10 chicken run for about 50% of the day for a little while now....I also need to read up on chicken behavior. I thought they always come back to roost when the sun goes down.

 

[sourland]

Good news!

 

[stargirl]

So glad they came home!

Not long after I moved house, my most adventurous hen hopped over the 6 foot wall, and disappeared! I had to knock on doors saying 'excuse me, have you seen my chicken?' I followed a trail of people who had seen her, held her, had their picture taken with her(!), and eventually found her walking down a back alley two streets over. She'd never have found her way home from there! I think sometimes they get a bit carried away with exploring... hopefully your girls learnt their lesson! Tilly never did it again!