Help!

[HillCountryChicken]

Okay, so we bought a chicken coop that came with some chicks, and three of them grew like crazy fast while the other 3 at a normal speed. By the time the white chicks were about 8 weeks old they were too big for the coop, so I put them with all my layers. We have a few pigs in the barn with the chickens for protection from snakes and such and have never had any issues. Now one after the other the white chickens have been disappearing!! We looked into the chickens and think that they may be white broiler chicks, so if they are dying the pigs might have eaten the bodies, they have never eaten any of our chickens before so this is the only thing I can think of! What is going on?? We have searched everywhere and they are just gone?? I am starting to believe these are just rare and mysterious disappearing chickens! What are they? Or what could be happening? Please don’t judge, I honestly don’t know what is going on. And would never put my chickens in with my pigs if I thought anything bad was going to happen. As of right now my pigs are very protective of the chickens and they all get along very well. Last pic is of one of our happy pigs

 

[Painted Calls]

They are broilers. Odds are that something took it. A broiler isn't going to get away from anything very easily.

 

[Jack3291]

Well the only possibilities I could think of were:
1. They were able to fly out (unlikely)
2. Found an area of wiring that was loose or broken
3. Died of temperature/illness and later being eaten
4. Got preyed on by the pigs

 

[HillCountryChicken]

They are broilers. Odds are that something took it. A broiler isn't going to get away from anything very easily.

I thought so . Well the barn is completely covered due to a neighbors dog that would come over here and eat all of our chickens. So there is no way in the barn other than through the door. So there is no way something could have taken them!

 

[Painted Calls]

There are no openings in your barn at all? Not in the roof or windows or under walls?

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

I bet the pigs are eating them... When I raised pigs I was always quite paranoid that a chicken would somehow get into their area. They are definitely omnivorous....

 

[HillCountryChicken]

Well the only possibilities I could think of were:
1. They were able to fly out (unlikely)
2. Found an area of wiring that was loose or broken
3. Died of temperature/illness and later being eaten
4. Got preyed on by the pigs

There are no ways out or in other than the door to the barn, and when we realized they were disappearing we checked everywhere for any places to escape and there were none! And the pigs have never eaten any of the other chickens before

 

[HillCountryChicken]

There are no openings in your barn at all? Not in the roof or windows or under walls?

No, there are none. They have a huge completely enclosed area. There are way too many predators in our area for us to have them free roam, even our neighbors dog has tried to come and eat them all

 

[HillCountryChicken]

I bet the pigs are eating them... When I raised pigs I was always quite paranoid that a chicken would somehow get into their area. They are definitely omnivorous....

They have never eaten them before. I find it hard to believe they’d eat only the white chickens and leave all the other chickens alone. We have like 20 chickens in there with them and have NEVER had any issues. This is the first time we have ever lost any with them

 

[Rhodebar Lover]

Broilers are slower... I have heard plenty of stories of this happening and a quick google shows that this definitely occurs. I may be more paranoid, but I would definitely consider separating them out, because if chickens are disappearing with no way out, odds are they are getting eaten, it's just a question of dead or alive. I know I may have a different relationship with my chickens and losses than some people, but the idea of them getting eaten alive is something that I would personally minimize