We have 4 chickens that are laying hens we added my 12 chicks about a month ago at 10 weeks. Anyways one of the chicks went missing on Tuesday. We were not super surprised as ours are free range however it randomly showed up in the coop at the end of today... Anyone else ever have this happen? It was warmer last week like 30's now it's about 10 so could it have been hiding and came back BC it was cold? I thought a fox may have gotten it.
Sure, this has happened to us. We've had different chickens that found places they liked to roost rather than the coop. Picking them up and placing them back into the coop for a few days usually solved the problem. I have read of folks who had one stray chicken that would roost in a tree no matter what. Sometimes clipping wings helps, sometimes not. You might try starting a new habit of feeding them something tasty, some mealworms perhaps, just before they would normally go to roost. This will round them up to be near the coop and they will be more likely to roost in there rather than run off to find some obscure spot.
I guess I was just surprised since it is so cold since we live in up North MN for it to roost outside the coop where it is nice and cozy. I would consider clipping wings but out chickens our free range and I like to try and give them a small fighting chance if something tries to get them. Out of all 16 of our chickens it was the first that has gone missing in a year. I was certain a fox had gotten it after I had not seen it for so long.