Do chickens go off to die like dogs sometimes do??

[OHhappychicks]

Has anyone experienced, or is it possible, a rooster or hen for that matter, ever disappearing to maybe go off to die? My sweet rooster was not with his girls this evening when we went to shut them in. He is a very large white aracauna. We looked everywhere with no signs of him. Anything trying to drag him off would certainly have had a fight put up, but there are no white feathers anywhere. Not even one. We noticed he was just sitting in the yard a couple of days ago. We commented on it as I have never seen him do that before. He is always out taking care of his girls, always on the lookout. We have an old wooden box we turned into a nest for our biddy and her chicks which we kept in the chicken tractor. It is setting in the yard, and I noticed him going in there yesterday, although I didn't pay attention to how long he was in there. We have looked everywhere but no sign of him. He is 3-4 yrs old. I'm very sad. He was so sweet.
Is this a behavior found in chickens? We have had chickens for 5 yrs now, and this is a first. We had a rooster that just was walking around 1 minute and dead the next, one died from an ailment, of course we have lost 2-3 to predators, but there were feathers everywhere. Never had one just disappear without a trace. Any thoughts?

 

[Sandstorm495]

Has anyone experienced, or is it possible, a rooster or hen for that matter, ever disappearing to maybe go off to die? My sweet rooster was not with his girls this evening when we went to shut them in. He is a very large white araucana. We looked everywhere with no signs of him. Anything trying to drag him off would certainly have had a fight put up, but there are no white feathers anywhere. Not even one. We noticed he was just sitting in the yard a couple of days ago. We commented on it as I have never seen him do that before. He is always out taking care of his girls, always on the lookout. We have an old wooden box we turned into a nest for our biddy and her chicks which we kept in the chicken tractor. It is setting in the yard, and I noticed him going in there yesterday, although I didn't pay attention to how long he was in there. We have looked everywhere but no sign of him. He is 3-4 yrs old. I'm very sad. He was so sweet.
Is this a behavior found in chickens? We have had chickens for 5 yrs now, and this is a first. We had a rooster that just was walking around 1 minute and dead the next, one died from an ailment, of course we have lost 2-3 to predators, but there were feathers everywhere. Never had one just disappear without a trace. Any thoughts?

Actually, a lot of animals go off to die, not only dogs but I've never heard of a chicken doing it. It's a possibility that he just wandered off somewhere else, but it seems unlikely.

 

[OHhappychicks]

I think it is unlikely also, but I really can't believe he was carried away without putting up a great fight. He is 2-3 times the size of a hawk. If a fox grabbed him, I would think there would be a feather trail, as observed in the past. It is truly a mystery to me. He wouldn't leave his girls. We were at work today, so didn't witness anything. Everything looked as usual this evening. We checked on the new chicks, but didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the older ones. They are usually out in the garden we just plowed or under the apple trees. Nothing amiss that we could see. Gonna miss his crow in the morning.

 

[OHhappychicks]

Well, we solved the mystery of our missing rooster. Apparently, he was down by the road and was hit by a car. We have never had our chickens go on the road before. Especially this end of the yard. He would have had to go over about a 10 ft bank into the ditch to reach the road. He was found about 25-30 feet down the road. At least now I know what happened to him. The hens are really missing him.

 

[NosiphoChooks]

Oh no how sad, shame your not in the UK you could have had my araucana rooster so my dogs don't munch him. Well 3 - 4 is a good age for a large bird like him anyway. Poor lonely ladies

 

[OHhappychicks]

I would gladly take him! Thank you for the offer! I have a couple up and coming roos in the new batch. 1 Egyptian Fayoumis and 1 Blue Andalusian. They are already crowing! They are about 6 weeks old. I also have a little banty roo who stays inside the fenced area with his 2 banty hens. But my big boy was my baby. When he was little, the other roos would attack him. I would go out and save him and he would come running to me for protection. The others went to freezer camp, but I kept him. Oh well, there will be others.

Thanks again!

Thanks to Austinorpington for your condolences!