I feel sooo bad....lesson learned.

[RockyToggRanch]

A few weeks back I saw an eagle swoop down over my yard. I've been doing a head count ever since. Last week I was missing a chicken. darn eagle, I thought. a few days went by and no more losses. The other morning while doing chores I heard a tap tap tapping in the barn aisle. I'd heard it the day before as well, but thought it was a wood pecker. The noise seems to be coming from the ground..... I picked up an empty corner feeder and there, wet and scraggly, was the missing hen..with an egg. She had been under the feeder bucket for at least 3 days. She acted starved, but fine otherwise. I have no idea how she got herself under the bucket, but I no longer keep loose buckets or feeders in the aisle.

She's fine now, but I still feel bad

 

[annie3001]

glad shes found safe!!

 

[onthespot]

Oh man! Tough on the bird, but good save! Glad the eagle didn't get her! Thanks for the heads up. If there is a possible way for a chicken to get wedged, hung up, lost or trapped, they will find it, I swear. The turned over bucket is a new one for me though. Glad she made it.

 

[3goodeggs]

Wow. I am glad she survived. Don't feel awful, you saved her! feel good!
I remember finding chickens in the most impossible of places when I was a kid. If it can be done, they can do it.

 

[michickenwrangler]

Close call! We have to deal with hawks, owls, eagles and osprey here. When our chicken run was in the open, DH rigged up a "wigwam" of cedar branches that the hens went in for shade and protection. Now their run has cedars and balsams in it and provides enough cover that raptors can't easily get in

 

[RIVERA69R]

LOL!!!!! I LOVE HAPPY ENDINGS

 

[Casey3043]

It's true, if they can find a way to get in trouble, they will do it. I had made some "droppings boards" out of 2 X 4s on edge and covered the 2 X 4 foot thing with hardware cloth. I quit using them because they were too hard to get out of the coop to clean. They fit exactly and got wedged in too tightly. I moved them to the garden and had them sort of leaning together in one corner to protect the last of my herb garden after I let the chickens in there for the winter. Of course, that's exactly where they wanted to go! One day there was a squawk and I turned around to see a BR hen under the mesh where one of them had fallen on her. Fortunately it didn't hurt her to be compressed to 3 1/2 inches thick! She couldn't get out from under it, and luckily I was there.

No more propping the things up. I can use them flat to protect little seed beds, but that's all. Sigh.