Disappearing/Reappearing Chickens?!

[WickeeChickee]

Last night when I went to shut the coop door, I counted heads and noticed that two of my BO's were missing. After a thorough search of the yard and surrounding areas we finally gave up and figured they flew over our 6 foot privacy fence into another yard. I didn't really think it could be a predator because we live in a suburban neighborhood, plus I thought even if it had been a hawk there would be some evidence because an almost fully grown BO is pretty big for a hawk to just carry off completely. So anyway, we checked the coop thoroughly, even looking under the other chickens and up every wall to make sure they hadn't found some weird nook or cranny to sleep in. This morning I checked again at 6 AM before work and still nothing. Then at 9:00 am I get a text from my husband - a picture of all the birds safely ensconced in their coop and ready to start the day! What??? Is a neighbor screwing with us and hopping over our locked gate, taking birds, and replacing them? That's the only explanation I can think of at this point! Thoughts, anyone?

 

[texascoral]

My favorite black copper maran did that 1 time. He went missing for 3 days. On the third day we got a call from the sheriff's office (20 miles from our house, where my sister-in-law worked). They said that they remember her saying that our favorite rooster went missing and there was a large "fighting" rooster on the court house lawn and wondered if we wanted him since chickens are illegal inside the city limits. When my sister-in-law got to town and found the rooster she realized it was our missing boy! He hitched a ride in the bed of her truck one day (she had the sacks of feed back there) and we assume that when the court house sprinklers went off he jumped out of the truck to get some water and she left work before he got back in the truck.