Four chickens up an left yesterday

[MI Buckeye]

I am a new chicken person. Yesterday, I had 19 buckeye chickens that are now eight weeks old. They seemed perfectly happy and healthy. I kept them inside a breeder for four weeks then moved them to a coop alone. The coop is in my barn as it is still under construction. Over the past two weekends, I have let the chickens roam as I worked. They never went far and put themselves back into the coop at night. At which time I closed the coop doors and the barn doors. On Monday, I opened both doors and went to work. Came home and no problems. Yesterday day, same thing except now I have 15 buckeye chickens. I waited for them to show up at dusk, but not luck. No blood or predator tracks. No piles of feathers that used to be chickens. Just gone.

Is this normal or should I count them as a loss?

No fencing as I was expecting them to forage for food to some extant and be free range.

Did I miss something?

 

[aart]

How much room do they have to roam?
What is the surrounding area like?

Free ranging almost always costs in losses to predation. Sometimes sooner, sometimes after years of apparent safety. Some predators (coyote, fox) can grab a bird and take it away to eat with very little or no evidence left behind...especially if the chickens are younger and smaller.

One or more might make it's way back...or if you look around in widening circles you might find the evidence of a feed.

Sorry for your loss, this is where the Romance meets the Reality of Chicken Keeping.......
.......you can either accept the losses or build a secure run to keep them safe.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm suggesting that you have a predator out there who has found a chicken buffet. Nothing is easier for a quick dinner than a flock of chickens, UNLESS, it's a flock of young chickens. That predator will continue to pick them off one or more at a time, until you have none left. IMO, when a predator shows up, all bets are off regarding keeping your chickens safe, unless you dispatch the predator (and over time, a new one will move in to take it's place) or build a fort knox chicken run. Many people combine the Fort Knox run with free ranging, so that they have an option when predators rear their ugly head. I am fond of electronet poultry fencing. If it's working properly, ground predators won't put up with the sting, and will move on to find an easier meal.

 

[MI Buckeye]

Going to have to build a secure run. Four in one day sounds like a hungry animal.

Just need to figure out how to construct it. The current coop is mobile and in the back of a 47 Chevy truck bed converted into a trailer. Wasn't planning a run.

 

[aart]

Going to have to build a secure run. Four in one day sounds like a hungry animal.

Just need to figure out how to construct it. The current coop is mobile and in the back of a 47 Chevy truck bed converted into a trailer. Wasn't planning a run.

Well, a 47 Chevy truck pickup bed really isn't near big enough for 16 chickens to spend a Michigan winter in anyway.....
it's what, 3 x 6 or 8'?
.......so you might want to seriously rethink that too.

Might want to build a secure coop and run with lots of space and ventilation and easy snow removal.
Couple of good articles linked in my signature.
Save the truck bed coop(sounds cool-pics?) for a broody hen or integrating new chicks next year.

 

[Mrs. K]

I love to let mine out, I do think they are healthier that way.... to a point. And that point is predators. As Lazy Gardener points out, once they have found you, they will pick you off one by one. EVERYTHING likes chicken.

I have a fort knox, over the top + a ground apron. When I get hit, I lock up for several days. I don't let them out on a schedule, and I don't let them out on windy days or dark cloudy days, that weather favors the predator.

I have found that I have much better luck with a rooster, but he needs to be about a year old to be mature enough. And one still needs to be able to lock them up. Some people have had good luck with certain types of dogs, but truthfully I think it depends on the predators that you have.

Mrs K