Lost Chicken

[jedmundson]

I think the story is getting slightly distorted. I am sorry if I did not make it clear, the dead bird was found inside the house, missing her head. This was far inside of the chicken wire, behind rabbit fencing and completely surrounded by solid walls, except for the small door at the top of the ladder from inside of the house. Our chicken house in a self contained structure where the chickens can spend the entire day inside when the weather is not so nice. Inside of the house is the coop off the floor level and with only a small door, access only to the inside of the house. What is puzzling us is that there are absolutely no signs of forced entry in to the house. I had daughter #1 check it twice. No rips or holes in the wire and no missing staples. The dead chicken was inside of security level 3 when it was found and the other chics were sitting right beside it. The only conceivable idea is that the predator was smart enough to open the roof section over the laying boxes 4' wide x 1' deep and crawl in to the coop and then back out the roof hatch. The laying boxes hang off the side of the house, so leverage would be a hard thing to come by and there were no claw marks on the outside of the laying box area.

We are thinking more that the hen died on its own or from some sickness, which makes us worry more about the other hens.