It finally happened.... 😭

[rumbleBee_STi]

I finally had my first chicken loss, & I haven’t stopped crying since. Pretty sure it happened sometime during the day this past Saturday. I only let my chooks free range if I’m able to be outside with them. Saturday evening I was getting everyone back into their run for coop time. While I was giving their last feed for the night, my husband says “I’m only counting 3 white (leghorn) ones.” I told him to check the coop, because sometimes they’ll go in early or be laying their egg before bed time. That’s when I started getting nervous. My leghorns never miss the opportunity for food, ever. We search on top of the ridge while I yelled “chook chook”. My husband said he was going to go walk around the hill below both runs. I was running inside to get the flash light & my husband yells out “Sam? I found feathers.” I ran down to where he was, sure enough... tons of feathers, & then an obvious trail of stray feathers. I followed the trail, more piles of feathers, also the remains of what my chook had in her crop. I started bawling my eyes out Never found her body. Never heard anything. No squawking, no rustling. None of the flocks acted like they heard anything. I know this is part of keeping chickens, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. I’m terrified to let the rest of my chooks out now. The area where she was taken, my small group of 14 week old EE’s are always trying to range in. We’ve had a fox hitting our trail cam, & I’m pretty sure that’s what took my girl The picture shows how close she was taken from where all the runs/coops are, & from where I usually hangout at when they’re outside

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

@jeepgrrl My chessie found the fox den! I took her down the hill where my leghorn was taken, she found the first pile of feathers & went from there. Led me straight to an old fallen down tree. Not far from our yard, at all.

 

[Offshoreorca]

Hi! I am so sorry for your loss. This is inevitable if you free range your girls, even with some supervision (which often cuts down, but doesn’t completely get rid of the risks). Every time it happens, it’s devastating. We had a young pullet taken by a hawk a few years ago and I’ve been careful to watch them closely ever since - and only free range them when I’m working in the yard for a couple hours. It could have well been a fox, but also might have been a number of other critters too. I would keep your girls inside their run and coop for a few weeks as many predators come back once they know there is easy food around. They will often move on if that food source isn’t there anymore.

Do the chickens go deep into the woods? Ours don’t go as far as your photo shows, so I wonder if the chicken was there or grabbed off your lawn and dragged there? If they’re going too far into the woods to forage, you might want to set up a bit of a barrier so they don’t. I give them just enough room under the trees that they can get away from aerial predators like hawks and owls, but not enough so they can easily run amuck of the forest dwelling predators.

 

[Folly's place]

I'm so sorry for your loss, it's hard. free ranging is wonderful for the birds, most of the time. Until it isn't, and I agree that you need to keep your birds in their safe coop and run for two weeks or so, hoping that your visiting predator does leave.
Reset your camera towards that area, you might see who's visiting. We've had losses like that to hawks; one bird, partially eaten and found not too far away. A fox is also a good possibility. Chickens are on everyone's menu!
Chickens do prefer wooded areas and shrub cover, they were jungle animals originally. Having them in open areas isn't best either.
Well set up electric fencing will deter many land predators, a very good thing!
Mary

 

[CrazyCochin]

I finally had my first chicken loss, & I haven’t stopped crying since. Pretty sure it happened sometime during the day this past Saturday. I only let my chooks free range if I’m able to be outside with them. Saturday evening I was getting everyone back into their run for coop time. While I was giving their last feed for the night, my husband says “I’m only counting 3 white (leghorn) ones.” I told him to check the coop, because sometimes they’ll go in early or be laying their egg before bed time. That’s when I started getting nervous. My leghorns never miss the opportunity for food, ever. We search on top of the ridge while I yelled “chook chook”. My husband said he was going to go walk around the hill below both runs. I was running inside to get the flash light & my husband yells out “Sam? I found feathers.” I ran down to where he was, sure enough... tons of feathers, & then an obvious trail of stray feathers. I followed the trail, more piles of feathers, also the remains of what my chook had in her crop. I started bawling my eyes out Never found her body. Never heard anything. No squawking, no rustling. None of the flocks acted like they heard anything. I know this is part of keeping chickens, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. I’m terrified to let the rest of my chooks out now. The area where she was taken, my small group of 14 week old EE’s are always trying to range in. We’ve had a fox hitting our trail cam, & I’m pretty sure that’s what took my girl The picture shows how close she was taken from where all the runs/coops are, & from where I usually hangout at when they’re outside View attachment 2449005

I am so sorry for your loss, my sympathy goes out to you,
I know what it feels like, we have lost two roosters and never found the bodies, but the best you can do is work hard to make sure your other feather babies are safe, God bless you and your flock!

 

[jeepgrrl]

I’m very sorry for the loss of your leghorn. The first loss is always hard. I lost my first pullet to a hawk; she was only 6 months old and from my first flock. The unfortunate downside to free ranging is that there will be some occassional losses, it’s a risk we take but I still wouldn’t do it any other way. I lost my blue Cochin (my avatar and favorite hen) last summer to a fox. Baby Blue was broody but she would always hop off the nest and free range around 11am, usually by herself as the rest of the flock had already moved into the lower pasture by then. My neighbors had warned me of a large red fox that had been making late morning appearances. I was erroneously overly confident that the 5 ft woven wire fence would keep the fox at bay. Nope, the fox scaled the fence, ran about 25’, grabbed by hen and exited the same place where it first scaled the fence. It happened so quickly that the flock didn’t even know Blue was gone. I only figured out what happened after I found a pile of feathers just passed the fence. I found two more piles of feathers deeper into the woods, never found the rest of Blue. One of my huskies tracked the fox’s scent from where it came over the fence, over to where it snatched Blue, and back again. Now I regularly walk my three huskies along the fence line that backs the woods to leave their scent. Not sure if that helps, but the fox hasn’t been back. Also since that happened, a pearl guinea cock mysteriously showed up on our property and never left. The guinea is very skittish and broadcasts a most obnoxious alarm at practically anything that moves, so he has been a good guardian for the flock. This past September, I just happened to witness him chase off a low flying hawk that buzzed the hen yard, so it was the first autumn that the flock was spared from an attack by a hawk. As time passes and more experience and wisdom is gained, we do our best to protect our flocks from predators, disease and injury, but despite our efforts things are going to happen anyway. Knowing you do the best that you can for your flock will help get you through the unfortunate times when a loss is experienced.

 

[LaFleche]

I am sorry for your loss.

When free ranging it is best to not have any lighter coloured chickens, as they get detected more easily by predators even when trying to hide in the undergrowth.

 

[Vickischics]

My heart aches for you.
Sorry,
Vicki

 

[Folly's place]

Here I've never noticed that my white birds are taken by predators more often, not at all. It's about size, inexperience, bad luck, and poor eyesight (Silkies, or any with top knots).
Mary

 

[Willow2253]

I’m so sorry for your loss. The only time I’ve lost birds to predators was while nobody was home, so mine only get to free range when somebody is home or the dogs are on guard now. I had two favorites that I never found this year, I know it can be hard.