May is a 1 year old (approx.) hen and she went missing today.
For the past few months, she's had a limp that hasn't dramatically affected her way of life (eating, drinking, foraging, etc.) besides making her a little slower and putting her in the bottom of the pecking order. She lives with two other hens and my rooster, Ivory. Despite her mysterious limp (the cause of it is unknown, except I noticed that the leg she limps on has like a nub on her 'knee', or the knee/bend in her leg is larger and almost looks swollen compared to the normal one that she doesn't limp on), she isn't really picked on by the others and she has gotten by just fine. Because she's in the bottom of the pecking order and she's slower than the others, she doesn't really follow them around when they forage anymore. She mostly forages by herself, with Ivory the rooster, or stays around the coop for the day. A couple times before she has wandered off on her own and I've had to search for her, and ended up finding her hidden in a bush on the other side of the yard, but every time she did wander off, I always ended up finding her hiding somewhere.
Now she has gone missing again. However, this time I can't find her. I (along with a few other people) searched the entire yard for her. We looked in every single possible place for her to be. Basically, we completely searched and re-searched the whole perimeter of the house (and a little outside the perimeter) so much that you could say there wasn't a stone left unturned by the time we had eventually given up. I tried calling her with a bowl of feed, which she usually comes running to. The others came running, but no sign of May.
The last time she was seen was when all of the chickens were let out of the coop this morning. She was seen foraging a couple times throughout the day, but then she just disappeared.
After all the searching and re-searching, I've been just waiting to see if she turns up on her own. After all, she's lived here for a while so if she happened to wander off, for one, she wouldn't wander too far from her flock, would she? And she knows her way around pretty well.
Now it's starting to get dark and still no sign of her.
I'm starting to worry that some predator may have gotten her, due to her disadvantage of being slow because of her injured leg. We don't have any predators around here that I know of, besides a couple neighborhood cats, but they've never been seen nearby and haven't been a problem in the past. Also, I've been home all day and haven't heard anything unusual (such as the rooster's alarm call or any of the hens freaking out about something...it's been completely peaceful all day. She just disappeared.
What can I do? Keep searching? I'm worried she won't turn up before dark (which is getting closer and closer). And if she doesn't show up by tonight, I don't think she ever will.
Thanks for any help!

Now she has gone missing again. However, this time I can't find her. I (along with a few other people) searched the entire yard for her. We looked in every single possible place for her to be. Basically, we completely searched and re-searched the whole perimeter of the house (and a little outside the perimeter) so much that you could say there wasn't a stone left unturned by the time we had eventually given up. I tried calling her with a bowl of feed, which she usually comes running to. The others came running, but no sign of May.


Now it's starting to get dark and still no sign of her.


What can I do? Keep searching? I'm worried she won't turn up before dark (which is getting closer and closer). And if she doesn't show up by tonight, I don't think she ever will.

Thanks for any help!
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