Half my birds are missing

[Cyneswith]

I didn't do a headcount last night because my children were unruly and I'm managing alone this week. Went to let them out and my australorps and my favorite orpington are gone. Any suggestions on how to lure them out of hiding? Any chance they could've survived the night at 41 degrees out of the coop? 6 week olds.

 

[Cyneswith]

I noticed no unusual sounds last night, but again, my children were unruly so I may have just missed it. 2 feathers in the coop, one feather in the yard, no real signs of struggle, but we have 4 acres of woods. I haven't gone through.

 

[chickens really]

They will if survived the temps...I locked out a 4 week old Chick one night and although Cold it survived...Hope no predators came and got them?
Best of luck they come back....

 

[Cyneswith]

Predators, hiding, or picked up by the road.

 

[Slike]

Sometimes babies will decide to go adventuring and exploring, and not have the sense to return back from whence they came because they get themselves lost. I would highly recommend searching for them, be it day or night if they will respond to either your voice talking to them or to such food cues as a rattling can with whatever you feed them, the sound of chip bags crinkling... whatever you can think of that might draw them out due to their motivation to eat.

Have they ever gotten out of the pen like this before? If so, where did they go?

Also know that predator troubles will typically get worse as the cold sets in due to the increased need to eat to stave off the cold. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Cyneswith]

This morning ALL are missing and there is blood in the coop, so I'm feeling less like I missed getting chickens in the coop. Probably an owl.

They'd been free-ranging for a few days, and put themselves back in the coop around sunset.

 

[coach723]

I'm very sorry for your losses. You need to secure your coop before getting any new birds or you will lose them too. There are any number of predators that will enter a coop at night, foxes, raccoons, etc. Your coop needs to be secure so the birds are safe. The coop should not be open at night, it should be closed after the birds go in for the night. Even a closed coop, if not properly predator proofed can be gotten into by a determined predator. And the predators will continue to return to where they are successful. I would do some searching and reading on predator proofing your coop. It may take some effort, but it's worth it in the long run. Otherwise you will just be running a predator restaurant. If you want to post pictures of your set up it may help getting suggestions, you can also look through the 'coop and run' and 'predators and pests' forums for ideas and information.