First loss today, vanished without a trace

[jcross0525]

Hello,

Looking for the best guess for our culprit so we can prevent it from happening again. We have 5 little bantam hens (4 now) that during the day are turned loose in a run about 1900 sq ft. At night they are locked in their coop. The run has a fence I would feel relatively confident calling predator “proof”, it is 5 ft of R-panel topped with another 3.5 feet of chicken wire.

The hens have never offered any kind of indication they want to fly so I can’t imagine she just flew out. But as the title states, I let them all out this morning and sometime during the day she disappeared. No signs of feathers or a struggle anywhere. My only guess is a hawk carried her off, and if that’s the case I’m looking for any tips to prevent that in the future. Installing an overhead cover isn’t an easy option, as there’s a mulberry tree in the run that I’m sure would drop enough branches and leaves to destroy that. Located in west Texas.

Thank y’all,
Josh

 

[CluckerFamily]

I would say it was an areal attack if your run is open on top what ever it was will keep coming back until it has picked every chicken out of the run.
Would a metal roof work? You could go around the tree trunk and branches won't destroy it as easily especially if you have plywood underneath the metal sheets.

 

[Hei 20]

Hello,

Looking for the best guess for our culprit so we can prevent it from happening again. We have 5 little bantam hens (4 now) that during the day are turned loose in a run about 1900 sq ft. At night they are locked in their coop. The run has a fence I would feel relatively confident calling predator “proof”, it is 5 ft of R-panel topped with another 3.5 feet of chicken wire.

The hens have never offered any kind of indication they want to fly so I can’t imagine she just flew out. But as the title states, I let them all out this morning and sometime during the day she disappeared. No signs of feathers or a struggle anywhere. My only guess is a hawk carried her off, and if that’s the case I’m looking for any tips to prevent that in the future. Installing an overhead cover isn’t an easy option, as there’s a mulberry tree in the run that I’m sure would drop enough branches and leaves to destroy that. Located in west Texas.

Thank y’all,
Josh

I'm sorry for your loss

 

[Aunt Angus]

I'm so sorry! It must be heartbreaking...


What a nice big run you have for them! Unfortunately, it was probably a hawk or something similar. I'm wondering - do they have places to run? Bushes, etc to hide under? That might help. It's a huge area to put a roof over. Maybe bird netting?

 

[cmom]

Nothing is impossible. I have my pens all covered with good heavy duty netting and I have trees in the pens. Since you free range that is the risk you take. Maybe you can try a a tube man. Another BYC member put one up in her yard to scare of hawks. Not sure how it worked. I also have cameras up around on my property. I love my cameras.
My pens. Good luck...