Missing chicken

[Weeg]

Dint beat yourself up, I had gone through around 5 or 6 flocks because of raccoons and coyotes, and 2 flocks of ducks! It is hard to keep them predator safe, it took us 4 years to figure out how to fully protect our birds! You are doing a good job! Avery
Ps. I took care of 3 chickens while I was treating them for mites, and almost killed the rooster 3 time while I was caring for them! Ounce when I bathed them when they weren't healthy, and gave them hypothermia, again when I sprayed permtherin on them without diluting it. ( In the end, that permethrin contained gasoline too, so double fail.) And again, when I had him in my shop over night and he woke me up at 4 am crowing! You don't have it that, bad compared to a lot of us! We all learn the hard way! Avery

 

[aart]

Could something have snatched her and jumped the fence?

How high is the fence?
How old was bird taken?
Doubtful that a raptor would make a featherless kill, or carry away a bird of much size.
More likely a candid.

 

[Kimber_Leeann]

I have 4’ hog panels with a layer of wire fencing attached. I think the previous owners kept llamas in this area. My girls are about 4 months old. I’ve been warned about hawks but I have no idea how big of a bird they could carry away

 

[Kimber_Leeann]

Oh my goodness I have one more update! I went out this morning to let the remaining chickens out of the coop. I was hoping that the missing one would be outside waiting but no luck. After changing out the food and water I heard some rustling in the trees and she hopped down and went to eat like nothing happened. I searched this trees for two hours last night with no luck but she must have been tucked in there pretty good. So relieved that she’s ok but this was a good lesson for me. I will take your advice to heart and make some modifications to the run.

 

[aart]

I heard some rustling in the trees and she hopped down and went to eat like nothing happened.

Ah good, glad she safe and sound!
4' is nothing for chickens and many predators.

 

[Weeg]

I sound like it was a raptor then! But not like a predator, more like that she decided that she wanted to be one!

 

[ChicksNBoys]

First, I am sorry for your losses, please accept my condolences. But second, please don't be so hard on yourself! Your chickens are not gone because of anything you did or didn't do at this point. Please don't blame yourself. Chicken keeping is a very risky business, fraught with dangers! We all had to learn the hard way, and none of us learned without painful losses. That's why BYC is here - to share with one another, to learn from each other, to find out what works and what doesn't, as we go about the business of trying to keep these very charming, and very VULNERABLE little critters safe! You are not the first to post "what got my baby????" along with "I just turned my back for a second!" and "not even a feather is left behind!" It's devastating! But we're here for you. We may not have conclusive answers ... but we care, and we'll try to help you keep it from happening again. Please don't be discouraged. It's a learning process, but you can succeed, and you will. And it's SO worth it! I promise!

This comment just helped me so much. We lost one of our girls today and we have no idea what happened. My boys were just outside with our flock and about an hour later my husband went out and one girl was gone. I’ve asked neighbors and nothing. I can’t imagine it would be a bird of prey but that’s the inly thing we can think. We just started to allow the girls out to free range and it’s such a bummer. Does anyone have recommendations for a netting I can out over the area we keep them?

 

[eveleychook]

Rooster is a great idea, but only if they love their ladies, otherwise they run the other way. Roosters at least let you know if a predator is in the vicinity. Another possible predator could be a fox, depending on where you live, they just kill the chicken, and leave with their prey. What size of chickens you have is also another thing to consider as snakes can also be the culprit.

 

[ChicksNBoys]

Rooster is a great idea, but only if they love their ladies, otherwise they run the other way. Roosters at least let you know if a predator is in the vicinity. Another possible predator could be a fox, depending on where you live, they just kill the chicken, and leave with their prey. What size of chickens you have is also another thing to consider as snakes can also be the culprit.

We live in the desert in a residential area with larger lots on the outskirts of town. Unfortunately we can’t have a rooster

 

[MykaMom]

You're not cursed. This is nature: our beloved fluffy butts are prey animals.

I thought my flock was safe beneath their covered run. On Christmas day, just this past Friday, a stray cat managed to get in a narrow gap between the shed wall and the top of the run. We weren't even aware the gap was there: my daughter had just gone outside to give them all fresh water when she saw it in action.

The $%#=_&% cat killed our sweet Japanese Black Tailed White roo, King Squeaky. We are devastated. Squeaky was our one-pound beloved butterball, hand raised and my daughter's pet.

The girls are confined to the hen house until tomorrow, when we're both home and can affect cat-proof repairs.