Help

[osuchic]

My hens are disappearing from our coop. We bought 6 chickens around easter of this year. We wound up with 3 hens and 3 roosters. One hen and one rooster had disappeared a couple of weeks ago. The rooster became very mean so we have been shutting them out of the coop, and leaving them in the run. Last night we shut our last 2 hens in the coop, and this morning they were gone? the roosters that we leave outside of the coop, however, are still there. I don't understand what is happening to them! I would think a predator would get the roosters since they are outside of the coop. Please help!

 

[Angiebubs]

Did you figure out how something was getting into your coop? Or how the hens were getting out? Were there any signs of blood or feathers all over?

 

[osuchic]

There are not any blod or feathers around. I do not think the hens would have run off because they always stay near the coop. The only time they stray from the coop is when they see us, and they come running to us to be picked up. I am really upset about this and so are my girls. I really want to try again, but with the rooster issues and now losing our pets to some kind of predator this is really frustrating. There are some defects in the coop (the previous owners left it there, and left us one chicken) which is how we started this to begin with. Im just not sure what kind of predator wouldn't take the roosters outside, but would go inside for the hens...and not leave a mess.

 

[Angiebubs]

Tha is very odd. The thing is, usually at night they usually won't move much at all. So if a predator was able to get in, the hens were an easy target. And possibly a predator didnt notice the rooster outside?

However, its very odd that there are no signs of a struggle left behind.

Please keep us posted if you solve the mystery. Once you have it figured out, I would shore up the coop and make it predator safe and get some more chickens! It is such a fun hobby and I would hate to have you give up!