Missing chicken

[paleochick]

I have a two month old chich (splash andelusian) that went missing from the pen yesterday. She has a history of flying over the fence and I was going to trim a wing this weekend. Went to put the flock (all 7 of them) into the coop and I this one missing. It was raining so a search of the yard (with a six foot fence) yielded no chicken and no evidence of a sign of a struggle. We have lots of bushes and trees plus a greenhouse used for storage with the door left open.

Any thoughts on where chickens may hide? And if she had hid from the rain overnight and was not abducted by a cat or hawk will she return to her pen/coop? I am new to chickens so have no idea what is typical.

 

[bwahk]

Have you tried rattling some grain in a dish? My hens come running for food... is she big enough to have gotten over the fence? Last week I found one of my hens hiding under some lawn furniture.

I have to ask.. are you into the paleo diet?

 

[paleochick]

I tried that this morning and did my 'peep' call which also brings the other chickens running. It was still pretty soggy and chilly this morning so hopefully she is still hiding. Will try again when I get home from work.

As for PaleoChick - I am a paleontologist and I love chickens, hence the combination.

 

[bwahk]

Ah, I figured it had to be one or the other.

Hopefully she found a bush to hide in and she will come out when she's hungry.

 

[paleochick]

Sad to say she never returned. I never saw evidence of a struggle so guess that the local red tailed hawk had a good lunch that day.

 

[bwahk]

I'm so sorry. That's the hard part of free ranging hens.

 

[Branumdragon]

PeanutButter dissapeared once. She was stuck behind the coop and nearly died. On her first birthday. WORST B-DAY EVER.