I have a free range group of birds that till 2 weeks ago was a flock of 1 adult roo and 3 adult hens. They also are joined by their 11 chicks of varying ages. The adults i have had free ranging for 3 years and never had a problem because the roo was such a good little alarm for danger to the hens. But last week, something got one hen, the roo and a 10 week old chick. We only found feathers from one of the hens.
I have another group of birds in a large fenced area in a tree covered area of the yard that live in a seperate coop. Tonight when I went to close the access door, all but one EE hen were inside settled down for the night. She was out in the pen, looking rather strange with her necked stretched upwards and her beak open. I had to keep tossing small sticks behind her to get her to move foreward into the coop and shut the door. I studied her because she seemed to look like she was in shock, her eyes were wider open and she had her neck stretched all the way tall and her beak was open but slightly askew. She also had a dropped tailset like she had been pounced on. I picked her up but could not find any marks, and could not feel anything in her crop that might have been stuck.
Then when I went to closr the door to the large dog house the free range flock lives in, I noticed another hen was missing. Is it possible this hen saw what happened to the others and is in shock, or maybe she was grabbed? She was not gasping for air or breathing heavy, just looke like she was almost stoned or something. Any ideas???
I have another group of birds in a large fenced area in a tree covered area of the yard that live in a seperate coop. Tonight when I went to close the access door, all but one EE hen were inside settled down for the night. She was out in the pen, looking rather strange with her necked stretched upwards and her beak open. I had to keep tossing small sticks behind her to get her to move foreward into the coop and shut the door. I studied her because she seemed to look like she was in shock, her eyes were wider open and she had her neck stretched all the way tall and her beak was open but slightly askew. She also had a dropped tailset like she had been pounced on. I picked her up but could not find any marks, and could not feel anything in her crop that might have been stuck.
Then when I went to closr the door to the large dog house the free range flock lives in, I noticed another hen was missing. Is it possible this hen saw what happened to the others and is in shock, or maybe she was grabbed? She was not gasping for air or breathing heavy, just looke like she was almost stoned or something. Any ideas???
