Missing Chickens

[Matt1999]

Yesterday I let out my chickens for a while at about 1pm. I came out again at 3pm to move the car and I saw all 7 of them walking around. When I came out an hour later I found 5 of them together and two missing. I looked for hours and I couldn't find them. I went out again today and their's still no sign of them. I live on a small farm with a large block of vacant land next door. I have had foxes on my farm, however only at night not during the day and not in the area around where my chickens stay. If there was a fox that got them during the day my dog would have reacted and she was calm and quiet during this time. Please help me find them as they are egg layers and this is very strange.

 

[Pork Pie]

If you've scanned your farm for evidence of feathers etc and found none, then maybe look under hedges etc - places where a chicken can sit without being noticed. If you regularly give them treats, then try calling the flock and seeing if that works.

Good luck

 

[Matt1999]

Thank you, I just found a large amount of feathers in an area however, it was only 1 chicken because these chickens were two different breeds and colours. I've checked all the hedges in my farm trying to chase them out with a rake and even shining a torch in there to see but nothing.

 

[Pork Pie]

It seems that at least one has been lost to a predator. The other may have witnessed the attack and it's not uncommon for them to remain where they initially sought refuge for quite some time. Fingers crossed!

 

[centrarchid]

Pen the chickens up and start looking into ways to further protect them in coop and if you decide free-range that way as well. Coop needs to be first.

How does your coop look? Pictures?

How does the area to be free-ranged look? Pictures?

 

[Matt1999]

My chickens have a protective cage, I just let them out sometimes because they have a wire floor and they need to clean themselves. We usually let them out ever few days after they've laid their eggs (so around 2pm-5pm before the sun goes down). I've already figured out that it was a fox that got one because I found feathers of one, however, i still couldn't find the other one. My farm is about five acres but the chickens tend to stay close to the pen or near us and my dog usually patrols around where they stay to keep an eye on them.