It was bound to happen

[Abzon]

Well last early this morning we had our first attack and lost one of hens. We live in the city in a neighbor hood away from the country but do have a fox or two in the area as well as other predators that I understand might be responsible. My dog and turning on the backyard light spooked it away but not till it was too late. We have had chickens for about 5 years now and possibly just got careless about keeping the coup secure at night so it was easy pickings for whatever it was. We expect that it will return until all are gone. We plan on closing up the coup at night but not sure what if its even worth it since there are only two as they are mostly just pets at this point as they are older and basically stopped laying and the one that did is gone now. A neighbor two houses away have a few as well and we thought about offering them the hens but hens that don’t lay are usually unwanted except to eat. We were thinking about getting some younger ones but now that the predator knows they are here just does not seem worth it.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss.

I think it's worth closing the coop at night to protect the remaining 2 ladies. Many of us keep hens past their "prime" and enjoy watching them just chicken on even if they aren't that productive. I'm hope you will too.

If you decide you want to offer them up to someone else, place an ad on CL and here on BYC to see if anyone is willing to take them in.