How much of chance does my chicken have of surviving?

[Chicks Galore3]

I think I might have just lost my first chicken. She didn't come home to roost and almost and hour of searching and calling turned up nothing. I am hoping, PRAYING, that she just found a cozy spot to roost or nest and will show up again. How big of a possiblity does she have of survival? In my almost 1 1/2 years of having chickens, I have had NO problem with predators, (except 1 or 3 times with a red-tailed hawk, who didn't get anybody and hasn't been seen for a couple months.) I have accidently left the run open twice, ( I killed myself both times) and nothing happened to them. Do you think she can survive with this or should I say RIP to my poor Polly?

 

[Kelsie2290]

There is the possibility she will come back, I've had chickens that just didn't go in the coop on a given night for some reason but decided to roost in a bush or something. Hopefully a predator didn't get her. At night they will not react if you call them, so you can walk right by them and they won't respond. It sounds like you leave them free range? Could she have a hidden nest somewhere?

 

[chfite]

If she got tangled up or lost in a fence somewhere, she simply bedded down as best she could where she was. She may well come traipsing home in the morning when the others are first getting up.

I had one get all tangled in the tomatoes and weeds in a bed next to the coop. I watched her as she could not figure how to get out of the weeds and into the run two feet away. All the others were roosting as she squatted down and apparently settled in for the night.

It seems that the need to go to bed at a certain level of light is compelling for a chicken. After a few minutes, it be came apparent that she had stopped trying to go to the coop. I walked through the tangle, picked her up, and put her inside the coop.

Chris

 

[Chicks Galore3]

I was wondering if she was sleeping somewhere. Yes, I do free-range. She has never had hidden nest. (That I know off) nor has she gone broody. Her sister, however, gets a new hidden nest each month and is a monster in the nesting boxes. I am hoping the lost has the same genes in her and is off to raise babies. I'll look for her again. I don't know if a predator got her - no tell-tale sounds yesterday, and the others don't look shaken up from it. My rooster also didn't sound an alarm either. We don't have a big predator problem at all. There is shelter and water, but no food for them. (Besides chickens...) there is many other better places for predators around here, so I am hoping she is alive and well and will bring back a peeping trial sometime soon. How long are hens usually gone when the go off to brood?

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: They normally get off a nest at least once a day to feed and drink, and seldom go far from their coops

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Quote:

They normally get off a nest at least once a day to feed and drink, and seldom go far from their coops

Unless they find a spot they prefer over the nesting boxes outside. I have to literally go and find my broody hen from her hidden nest and stick her in the coop otherwise she would stay in her nest. But I don't know where my lost chicken's nest is, or if she even has one.I know the normal egg hatches within 21 days. (Give or take a day or two.) Plus a week or two for her to build up a clutch, I am thinking around 6 weeks. If she isn't back in 2 months I am giving up on her ever coming back.

 

[EggresiveAli]

Hope she comes back

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Hope she comes back

Me too.

 

[EggresiveAli]

I had one escape my run, she ate all my plants but she stayed close to home.

 

[Chicks Galore3]

It is sad to only count 17 chickens at night.