Could our girls have survived an attack, and could they return after several days?

[ccharlotte]

Hello all,

I'm sorry, I haven't made an introduction post yet, as I'm afraid we may no longer be chicken owners

We acquired our flock accidentally and over time when various people for various reasons could no longer take care of their chickens, and we had the space and the willingness to house them. Until last week, we had five chickens (a couple of others had died previously), of which only two were still laying, the other three were enjoying their retirement, and we were enjoying all of them.

We let them roam around the garden on most days, and last Thursday my partner came home late and forgot to close the coop or check on the girls (I wasn't there that night). On Friday morning we found a huge pile of feathers close to the back door, most of them belonging to our two speckled hens - there were so many feathers that we think that the predator, most likely a fox, killed both of them. There were a few feathers from the other three, but few enough that we hope they may have escaped. However, we've been out searching every day since, and there has been no sign of them. The area around the house is lightly wooded, there are a few other houses around. We've been searching under bushes and trees in quite a wide radius around the house, but no luck. We feel terrible and miss them a lot.

My question is, from your experience, is there any chance of some of our girls having survived a fox attack and coming back after several days have passed? Because the feathers were near our bedroom window and my boyfriend didn't hear a thing, we suspect they were attacked on Thursday evening/afternoon, and he didn't see the feathers until the next day because he came home in the dark.

Thank you!

Charlotte

 

[mstanton]

If there are piles of feathers, I would say that it is unlikely that your girls survived. We had a chicken disappear last week without a trace, was hopeful she would come home but a few mornings later we saw a fox snooping around the coop around 6:00am and I have little doubt that he snatched her during the early evening.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC - sorry for the circumstances. Chickens can sometimes survive a predator attack and return home later. I am afraid that after 4 days it is unlikely that your hens survived. Sorry.

 

[morsekathan]

I don't think so. We had a huge daytime attack and hoped that one hen somehow survived because we couldn't find her - but after a long, long search - we did find her deep in the hostas but dead.

Sorry for your lose. May I recommend an automatic door closer if you decide on chickens again. We have the Pullet-shut door (http://www.chickendoors.com/products.htm) which we acquired after forgetting to close the door twice (flat learning curve). We couldn't be happier with it. The door is closed when we get home at night and the chickens are safe inside.

 

[Coralietg]

I agree with others, it is unlikely I'm afraid.

We lost 7 hens under similar circumstances early last year. Forgot to shut them in the night before. We found a few spots of feather explosions, a couple of partially eaten hens, and some just completely missing. No-one ever returned, figured the culprit was a fox or coyote.

We did have some survivors appear 2 days after a dog attack that wiped out most of the flock we had built back up. Just so happened to be two roosters that had managed to hide and wedge themselves behind fencing. Two also came out from hiding an hour after I discovered the mess. I had been so upset over the dog attack I hadn't counted the bodies.