I finally got a green egg layer, and she's gone! :(

[Tala]

I just started getting green eggs from an EE x BO (actually her EE dad was half BO as well) so I was pleasently surprised by green eggs....I've gotten 4 of them.
I gave her a leg band and put her in my bachelor pad-turned layer's coop a few days ago, uh last Tuesday night.
I don't remember really seeing her after that, but I always check on them in the dark and I figured I just missed her. The last green egg I got was on October 1st.
Every night I check for signs of digging or predators because one side of the pen is yet lacking a dig-skirt due to all the bull that has happened in my life regarding the chickens. (I spent several months building them the perfect predator protected coop last year, and then had to throw something together in an afternoon because of neighbor drama....)
Tonight I REALLY looked for her and she was nowhere to be found

I never found any obvious predator point of entry, no unusual amount of feathers and no body

A couple of nights ago I noticed that one of the bolt snaps that I use to close the coop had been put on backwards, but I'm always out there late in the dark so I figured I did it myself. Now I'm not so sure, I'm wondering if a 2-legged snake got her.

I hate that she's gone and I wish I knew what got her

Me and ChickyTocks were just talking about her this afternoon, she looked like a green-legged Buff Orpington
Poor baby

ETA: Ok looking at the time line, someone could have taken her. Friday Oct 1st I got a green egg but I can't really remember if I saw her on the roos coz they roost in two separate places (so if I missed her on one I just assumed she was on the other) Saturday I did not go check on them because I was tired and they have enough water to last them. Sunday night is when I noticed the bolt snap being "wrong" but again I can't say *for sure* that I didn't do it by mistake.....but it kinda looks suspicious to me given the lack of evidence that would point to an animal attack. Looks like I'm gonna hafta padlock their pen

 

[Firearia]

Awww! The poor baby! ;-; Im sure she knew that you loved her. You never know, she might have just slipped out and may come back.

Also, that's a neat cross hey? I'm going to do that in spring, so far I only have one blue egg layer though. I posted some pictures here today. Maybe I'll get an adorable little girl like yours.

I hope you find her alive and well somehow!!!

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Friday I noticed a spot where they *might* have been able to slip out, and I fixed it. If she got out earlier that day (and I can't say for sure that she didn't) then she probably got picked off by a neighbor's dog

 

[Firearia]

Quote:
Friday I noticed a spot where they *might* have been able to slip out, and I fixed it. If she got out earlier that day (and I can't say for sure that she didn't) then she probably got picked off by a neighbor's dog

Just throwing it out there. Once I thought I lost one of my BOs. But what she really did was jam herself WAY down in the hayloft and couldn't get out. xD

I hope you can get other egg layers like her if that's what you want. I'm just thinking on how pretty she was.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Friday I noticed a spot where they *might* have been able to slip out, and I fixed it. If she got out earlier that day (and I can't say for sure that she didn't) then she probably got picked off by a neighbor's dog

Just throwing it out there. Once I thought I lost one of my BOs. But what she really did was jam herself WAY down in the hayloft and couldn't get out. xD

I hope you can get other egg layers like her if that's what you want. I'm just thinking on how pretty she was.

I hope she didn't escape the pen and get stuck somewhere, that would be horrible! I'd rather think that someone or something took her to eat rather than think about her starving coz she got stuck. There is nowhere in the pen for her to hide, but PLENTY of "traps" outside the pen so I sure hope not!!!

I got the eggs from ChickyTocks and she still has the roo I know, I'll have to see if I can get some BO eggs from her again, as I was planning to set a hatch later this month

 

[Firearia]

Quote:
Just throwing it out there. Once I thought I lost one of my BOs. But what she really did was jam herself WAY down in the hayloft and couldn't get out. xD

I hope you can get other egg layers like her if that's what you want. I'm just thinking on how pretty she was.

I hope she didn't escape the pen and get stuck somewhere, that would be horrible! I'd rather think that someone or something took her to eat rather than think about her starving coz she got stuck. There is nowhere in the pen for her to hide, but PLENTY of "traps" outside the pen so I sure hope not!!!

I got the eggs from ChickyTocks and she still has the roo I know, I'll have to see if I can get some BO eggs from her again, as I was planning to set a hatch later this month

Nahh, you'd probably hear her sorry to say. I heard my little girl and ran around trying to find her.

I can't wait to see them hatch out! I can't wait for pics! 8D

 

[Tala]

I did a more thorough search this afternoon in the daylight with the dogs



AND DURING THE SAME TIME FRAME AS MY HEN DISAPPEARED MY BRAND SPANKIN NEW LIVE TRAP ALSO DISAPPEARED!!!!!!!!!

That's about the nail in the coffin. There was a lot of "could haves" regarding my girl disappearing (could have escaped, could have been a 4-legged pred, etc.) but a missing trap is for sure not the work of an animal predator!!!!!!!

 

[pnuts]

they are really good at squeezing into places. once i thought my silkie & my polish disappeared but they were squeezed in behind a big jug and another time my polish was hiding in a roll of snow fence:^P they hide from the grownups sometimes

 

[pnuts]

Quote:
locking everything up is a huge pain jeez what a jerk

 

[Tala]

Also today, since I was with them in the daytime not while they were roosting, one of my WLeghorn hens is limping, acts like it's a toe problem not a leg problem ----holding weight on it, just limps when she goes to move forward and bend the toes.
I couldn't grab her easily and didn't want to force her to run away, so I will be getting her off the roost tonight for closer inspection.

This has not been my week, that's for sure