Gone without a trace?

[Peaches Lee]

Well, it's been a week since one of my Golden Comet hens went missing, and I guess I just need to write about it. At first, since I found no feathers I looked in places she could have gotten trapped in, as this has happened in the past w/ missing chickens+no feathers (one was in a barrel, the other under a wooden crate).

I've looked around the perimeter of my barnyard, the birds free range, and there is very tall grass. I surmised that something could indeed have snatched her up and headed for the woods. I've gone through my fields and nothing (actually, I did find a toy lion figurine? Have no idea where that came from? But wierd!). So I've looked and looked for feathers, at least one feather and can't find any!

I'm thinking that maybe a fox or bobcat snuck in and had an easy meal. But, I don't know how far they would have gone with their kill? I have seen where a fox (I assume) got a ruffed grouse in the field, a clump of feathers, and then I kept walking to later find an entire pile of feathers. Wouldn't there be at least some feathers at a kill area?

I am now bringing my chickens in at 7 instead of letting them do their own thing until I do chores and they feel like roosting for the night (they are not happy about that!). Guess I'm just wondering if anyone else has had this sort of thing happen.

Anyway, done with my ramble.

 

[angel8035]

Just yesterday I went to let the girls out of the run in my backyard and noticed one wasn't there. She never made it back in to the coop the night before and I just shut it up without noticing. I found a few feathers in my dog's run but not a single piece of her any where to be found. It seems impossible that my dog would literally devour an entire chicken - feet and all. There was no blood or anything. I can't figure out what happened to her or how she would have even got into their run. She was a brahma and could barely fly. Very sad as she was still young and never even got to lay an egg. I checked all over to see if she was hiding but she's gone.

I know how you feel - I'd rather have found her dead then find no trace of her. It leaves me wondering if she's somewhere hurt

 

[jahphotogal]

I am a brand new chicken owner but the same thing happened to me. Three of my six young pullets were gone one night - no trace. The next morning two came back but I never round anything to give me a clue of what happened to the sixth one!

 

[Peaches Lee]

Yeah, I would at least like to find some feathers, even if I found parts of her, at least I would know she is dead and not be thinking, "Have I looked here?" "Could she be trapped somewhere?". Thanks for the support.

 

[ShaneandAsh]

Hi fellow Backyard Chickeners,

I'm reviving this thread as we have just lost a rooster and we can't figure out what has happened

He was last seen on Sunday afternoon. We were leaving for a show at 6pm and I did notice that he wasn't around when we were just leaving some supper for them. But we didn't think anything of it as our chickens are allowed to free range freely.

We were home again at 1130pm. My boyfriend's parents live close by so his dad locked the chickens up. I had a peek in and was sure I counted all of them so had no idea one was missing. Only realized the following morning when I went down to feed them breakfast

It's Tuesday here so it's been two nights that he's been gone. We live in a country-ish suburb on a pretty big plot of land and we have scoured the area but no joy. We don't have badgers, raccoons or hawks so the only real predator to the chickens are foxes.

The most bizarre thing about this whole situation is there is absolutely NO TRACE of him. No sign of struggle, no feathers, no blood. And if he was attacked, he must have been alone because no other chicken is harmed or missing. Which then leads to the question - what was he doing on his own? 6pm is when I usually feed them so they are always around, there really wasn't any reason for him to be away. And even if he was, he would very rarely be on his own.

We are still hoping against hope but we know chances of survival are incredible slim

The most worrying thing and I guess confirmation that he is gone is the fact that he is a rooster and we haven't heard him crow. (He has a very distinctive crow)

Is it possible for foxes to do a "grab and run"? I've read on here and other sites that usually if it's a fox there would be a pile of feathers left behind. But I'm wondering if maybe a fox got him and instead of eating him there and then, took him back to their lair to finish him off

We keep hoping that maybe he's stuck under something or stuck somewhere and can't figure out how to get home but I think this all could be wishful thinking... *sigh*

Has anyone experienced any of their chickens just disappearing for a few days and then returning? (another wishful thought)

 

[MrSelf Destruct]

I also lost one golden comet without a trace. I was working on the run, reinforcing it with hardware cloth. It was originally a 5' high chicken wire fence. My wife said she was going to clean out the shed so I finished what I was doing, locked up the door and went over to help her. This was around 12:30pm or so. They were still chicks so they couldn't fly over the fence I had set up. We were working on the shed on the other side of the yard for about 45 minutes. She then said she wanted to take the kids to the park. I told her ok and that I would go with her. I went over to the run to lock the chickens up inside the coop and one was missing. No feathers, no sign of digging or forced entry though the fence into the run. No fur or anything. I'm assuming it was a hawk in my case. I'm just surprised there was not one feather left behind. I walked my property and didn't find it although it is very wooded on my land. I have since added a roof so hawks, if that is what it was, cannot swoop down into the run.