How is it that they simply disappear?

[greginshasta]

While working on the roof to our run, we have been closing the hens up in their tractor that is temporarily located in the run. Close 'em up in the evening, and let them out in the morning.

Did just that today. Let them out, then went back in for coffee. Came back out an hour later and the barred rock was walking around the rafters where we were about to install the roof (which is now, at the end of the day, complete.) I grabbed her and put her back in the run, but counting beaks, realized that the RIR was missing. Gone...

I looked around in the manzanita thicket, nothing. No sign of her and she never returned all day.

When the neighbor got chickens, at about 2 months old, the friendliest of her 7 also simply disappeared. Just vanished. No feathers showing indication of an attack, no dead bird, nothing.

I don't remember the last time I saw a hawk or other such bird, and if an animal had taken the bird my Golden Retriever would have gone haywire.

Where do they go? How do they simply disappear?

Sad...

 

[lurky]

OMG.....I hope that never happens here. I read this all the time here. I have not had anything happen here cept my Roo's prolapse, which we survived. I worry so much when i read this stuff. I dont know what could happen without a trace, but i hope by some chance you find her

 

[poppycat]

Very mysterious

Hawks can be pretty stealthy, but you'd think you would have heard something.

Was this in broad daylight?

What about two legged predators, is there any possibility of that?

I really don't have a clue what could've happened, but I'm sorry you lost your bird all the same.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I think a lot of the ones that disappear are carried off by coyotes and foxes. Occasionally by humans. Everything else seems to, um, make a mess.

I'm sorry you lost one.

 

[newchickowner]

I just found out the same thing myself this morning. I let the chickens out this morning and came in to make a cup of coffee. When I came back out, I find that one of my chicks is just gone. No sign of her anywhere. I think a Owl got her, maybe early this morning when it was just dusk, but none of the birds sounded the alarm. I walked all over the place, no feathers, my dogs didn't bark, nothing. I just hope she didn't suffer.

 

[greginshasta]

We are in a rural nighborhood, with 1-acre lots per home. Early morning but daylight. No way a person would have done this. There is essentially no crime here - I don't even bother locking my home, much less my car. And at that hour, nobody was around.

As for predators, I don't know... I work from home and am very conscious of what creatures we see (or don't see) around here, and I've never seen a coyote or fox in this area. Perhaps a few miles north where homes are too sparse, but there are several streets that the critters must cross to get here from the wilderness area 1 mile away, and they just don't seem to get over here. Heck, we hardly see rabbits much less meanies, and that compost pile out back has yet to attract any attention whatsoever over the past year.

Bummer anyhow... Tweety is making a sign to post around the neighborhood.

 

[Buckguy20]

Coyotes, foxes, and birds of prey can leave no sign of an atttack.
Monty

 

[Buckguy20]

I did have an experience with a missing hen one day and looked for her for hours. I finally found her under a five gallon bucket I had left in the pen. I have no idea how she got there. The usual suspect (my eight year old son) was at school, so for once he had a good alibi. I can only surmise that she or one of her comrades tipped it over but how it flipped completly upside down I'll never know.
Monty

 

[Cuban Longtails]

I had a rooster that disappeared once, when he was younger. A whole day and a half went by when we just happened to pick up a box that had flipped over and guess who was sitting underneath? He was alive and healthy, if not a bit dehydrated.

 

[greginshasta]

Well, this sucks. We found her, and she's gone.

She had burrowed under the tractor that is temporarily in the run (until the main house is done) and got trapped. I didn't think to look under there when she went missing, then proceeded to set a ladder on top of it and walk all over it yesterday while we installed the roof.

Not a happy morning...