Lost Australorp

[ArtJuice]

Some predators will bury food to eat later. Some will leave certain things and eat the rest (I found a pile of feathers and crop contents and nothing else once). I don’t see your location in your profile so I can’t say what predators you have but after a few days there won’t be much evidence anyway. What did the footprint look like?

The footprints was hers. Her big old feet. Why do Australorps have such big feet?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Why do Australorps have such big feet?

Haha I guess because they’re big fat birds. Mine is named Mancini but I call her Fatty. She spends a lot of time sitting around waiting for me to bring her more food and when I don’t she begrudgingly wanders off to forage for herself.

 

[Oliver_Douglas]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

We too lost an Australorp last year. She was about 6 months old. They were locked safely in the barn, or so I thought. She literally vanished. I found 1-2 feathers, but no sign of struggle. We suspect bobcat, who would powerful and stealthy enough to have pulled that off.

Originally we got two Australorps, and the one remaining, Blue Bell is big fat and sassy. She's number 2 in the flock; gets broody occasionally, but she's a beauty.

 

[ArtJuice]

Haha I guess because they’re big fat birds. Mine is named Mancini but I call her Fatty. She spends a lot of time sitting around waiting for me to bring her more food and when I don’t she begrudgingly wanders off to forage for herself.

I also meant to type more but it sent way too early. This is so cute!

I don't know if this detail is important anymore but the footprints were there after the thunderstorm stopped (likely, the night (or early morning) after I could have miscounted, and before I found out we were missing one. And they were leading to the opposite side of the house.

So the predators. I usually don't like to reveal my location but we definitely have owls in our backyard (and by that I mean, right outside our windows) and coyotes in our area. We also have snakes. we see foxes and possums when driving nearby, but I've yet to see any at our house. There's been rare talk about mountain lions, but I guess they are a possibility.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Sounds like you and I have similar predators. Could have been a bobcat (they bury things for later) or a coyote easily