How long can a chicken stay in hiding

[Cassie_Baillargeon]

On Sunday one of my chickens with completely MIA.
Danielle is normally one to stay with the flock. Mid Sunday we pulled out some crack corn & I noticed she was the only one who didn’t come(I thought it was weird but didn’t panick) night time came to shut them in & she was still missing, it’s now been three days.. without a trace. No feathers, no blood, that we can see.
If something spooked her how long can they stay hiding for??
I’m concerned as to the fact we have a fox that comes every once and a while (that I can see at night on the game camera) and we have hawks around here... we haven’t had any sign of her but heard nothing all day.
I’m confused to what could have happened. Anyone have any experience on what could’ve happened or how log they can possibly hide for??

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I think you know your chicken is a gonner but afraid to come to the conclusion? Most likely it became a nice meal for a predator, either that fox you saw or hawks..... but who knows, either way I would take extra precautions now to make sure your chickens are safe from predators, or from escaping out.

 

[Cassie_Baillargeon]

That’s what I’m afraid to come to as a conclusion... I just don’t get why I don’t see any feathers or blood.. can that happen?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

There is no word in your post about what breed or strain your missing hen belongs to. If she is a leghorn or other high producing strain that has had the sitting gene bred out then I would say that she is a goner. Other wise I would watch, wait and listen for her to come off her nest to eat, drink, empty her bowls, and take a fast dust bath. If she does then watch her from afar (hiding) or 50 to 100 yards away and note where she returns to in order to cover her eggs. Good luck.

 

[Maeschak]

On Sunday one of my chickens with completely MIA.
Danielle is normally one to stay with the flock. Mid Sunday we pulled out some crack corn & I noticed she was the only one who didn’t come(I thought it was weird but didn’t panick) night time came to shut them in & she was still missing, it’s now been three days.. without a trace. No feathers, no blood, that we can see.
If something spooked her how long can they stay hiding for??
I’m concerned as to the fact we have a fox that comes every once and a while (that I can see at night on the game camera) and we have hawks around here... we haven’t had any sign of her but heard nothing all day.
I’m confused to what could have happened. Anyone have any experience on what could’ve happened or how log they can possibly hide for??

The Hawks here leave the bodies lying at the kill site while the fox will carry the birds away, often times without a trace. If you know where the fox' den is you could go check it out- sometimes they leave feathers around it after a chicken kill. Good luck to you-

 

[Cassie_Baillargeon]

There is no word in your post about what breed or strain your missing hen belongs to. If she is a leghorn or other high producing strain that has had the sitting gene bred out then I would say that she is a goner. Other wise I would watch, wait and listen for her to come off her nest to eat, drink, empty her bowls, and take a fast dust bath. If she does then watch her from afar (hiding) or 50 to 100 yards away and note where she returns to in order to cover her eggs. Good luck.

Well, you’ve actually just guessed her breed. She’s a white leghorn. So I guess I’ll just assume she’s dead then. What a bummer, thank you so much.

 

[Cassie_Baillargeon]

The Hawks here leave the bodies lying at the kill site while the fox will carry the birds away, often times without a trace. If you know where the fox' den is you could go check it out- sometimes they leave feathers around it after a chicken kill. Good luck to you-

I am not sure where the den is. The fox has shown up on the game camera less than a handful of times. So, I can’t assume it’s the fox,but I can’t take that out of the equation.

 

[Tesumph]

During hurricane harvey a tree fell on our coop and crumpled it in two. I think we had around 5 missing from inside and I successfully found 3 of them. Two stayed near the outside of the run, and one was found under a bush soaking wet and not making a peep the next day. I’m not sure what caused some to just leave the flock while others had more a “homing” instinct, they were all different breeds and I can’t remember who was who. I swear I could hear one in the super thick forest but she never came back. Personally I called it quits after a week and assumed dead. :/

 

[Below frigid]

Something grabbed Chicken Little this morning. No evidence but she is gone. She was my favorite! Going on serious predator patrol tomorrow morning.

 

[Cassie_Baillargeon]

During hurricane harvey a tree fell on our coop and crumpled it in two. I think we had around 5 missing from inside and I successfully found 3 of them. Two stayed near the outside of the run, and one was found under a bush soaking wet and not making a peep the next day. I’m not sure what caused some to just leave the flock while others had more a “homing” instinct, they were all different breeds and I can’t remember who was who. I swear I could hear one in the super thick forest but she never came back. Personally I called it quits after a week and assumed dead. :/

I swear I can hear a chicken calling from the woods some times, I can swear on it! I thought I was going crazy? Maybe I am. I’ll give a week tops. I read some persons chickens came back a week later. I know what the outcome is.. I just can’t get myself to stop looking for her. Thanks for replying. Everyone is giving me food answers. Sorry about your chicken