Is there any hope?

[NuthatchKnollChickens]

Yesterday our neighbor's dog lit out after our chickens and apparently he caught up with Martha White, one of our Speckeled Sussex. We found some feathers in three places - they look like primarily tail and under-carriage feathers, like he got her in the back-end - but we could not find her body anywhere despite looking for hours. We didn't find any blood on the feathers or anywhere else. This happened in the evening and we finally had to close up the coop to keep the other birds safe for the night. We were kind of hoping Martha White might be in hiding somewhere and would show up this morning when the roosters started crowing, but we've seen no sign of her. What do you think? Is there any hope she's still out there somewhere alive, or do you think she's a gonner and we just can't find the body? This is very sad for us, and our neighbor feels just awful.

 

[roosters97]

I'm so sorry

,yes I think myself theres hope

 

[Carolyn]

Keep looking but I am afraid you will find her dead or just a pile of feathers. The fact you found feathers 3 different places doesn't sound good.
Years ago we kept loosing chickens. Sometimes a few feathers, usually nothing. We had a new dog who totally ignored the chickens or so we thought. We caught her chasing them only when she thought we were not looking.
We later found the feathers and few remains far away from the yard where she caught them.

 

[horsejody]

Sometimes it takes a day ot two for them to come out. She may have suffered shock. If she found a quiet place to hide, she may yet come out.

Maybe the neighbor can help you look, and hopefully the dog will be better cared for in the future and kept out of your yard.

 

[carwinew]

There is room for hope.
Couple years ago, we were on vacation and a neighbor was taking care of the animals for us. Another neighbor's pit bull mix followed her and chased the chickens all over our property before she saw the dog, caught it and took it home. It did kill some (which is another story) but after she called and told us how many she counted that were left the count kept increasing over the next 3 days as chickens came out of hiding. Note that the chickens are normally put up at night due to predators but some managed to hide out at night and return during the day.
Hopefully you have a smart chicken too.

 

[NuthatchKnollChickens]

Thanks for the responses. We'll keep the faith! There are certainly plenty of places a chicken could hide around here (our 7 acre property backs up onto about 45 acres of woods). On the other hand, there are also a lot of raccoons, coyotes, hawks, owls, weasals... etc.

Maybe Martha White will turn out to be a wiley one and escape all the dangers.

 

[SpottedCrow]

I wouldn't give up hope just yet...
Sorry that she got chased though...

 

[NuthatchKnollChickens]

Eureka! Martha White has returned! She's missing a lot of feathers on the back-end but she seems otherwise fine! Thought you would like to know this story had a happy ending.

 

[JennsPeeps]

HAPPY ENDINGS!!

 

[erinm]

yaaaaaaay! I know the feeling. Neighbor dog killed four of mine last year and we had to find the rest and wait for some to return! heartbreaking! ErinM