My Easter Egger disappeared without a trace! What happened?

[harriedhomemaker]

My husband woke me up this morning with the news that our Easter Egger, Lita Ford, had disappeared.





Our chickens put themselves to bed every night and we have an automatic door, so I admit that I haven't been counting heads every night. I'm not sure how long she's been gone.

There are no clues, but I did notice that the chickens had stayed really close to their coop over the past couple of days. They were avoiding the new addition to their run. I wonder if a hawk grabbed Lita in that section of the run and the other birds witnessed the attack. We have 50 lb. test fishing line strung in a 2' x 2' grid all across the top of our chicken run, but I guess a very determined hawk could get in.

Any other guesses as to what could cause a 18 week old bird to disappear?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Human, fox, dog, bobcat, fisher, owl, raccoon, mink, badger, wolverine, etc.

 

[efanie]

I hope you find him soon!

 

[Cochaura]

So sorry - I hope you are able to find her. Are they always in their run or do they free range too? Does it look like anything dug under their run? I would think there would be some break in the line if a raptor got to her, but you never know.

 

[kitten6566]

My best guess would be a coyote. or maybe look hard enough. if she skuttled under a fence or something she could be brooding somewhere.

 

[harriedhomemaker]

So sorry - I hope you are able to find her. Are they always in their run or do they free range too? Does it look like anything dug under their run? I would think there would be some break in the line if a raptor got to her, but you never know.

They are always in their run. I checked the perimeter and it looks just the same as usual. Our run consists of two wider sections (covered with fishing line) connected by 3' wide chicken moats that go around our garden. We had always heard that the moat part was too narrow for a hawk to want to attack, so we never put up fishing line. I think we're going to correct that.

 

[harriedhomemaker]

My best guess would be a coyote. or maybe look hard enough. if she skuttled under a fence or something she could be brooding somewhere.

I actually saw a coyote running through our pasture today in the direction of the coop. I yelled at it and it ran away.

 

[Cochaura]

We are pretty sure coyotes are what got half our flock about a month ago, but we don't have a run. I talked to someone afterwards that had coyotes get theirs too and it climbed an 8 ft fence to do it. I'm not sure if I'm picturing your run correctly, but could it have climbed in over the moat part?

 

[harriedhomemaker]

We are pretty sure coyotes are what got half our flock about a month ago, but we don't have a run. I talked to someone afterwards that had coyotes get theirs too and it climbed an 8 ft fence to do it. I'm not sure if I'm picturing your run correctly, but could it have climbed in over the moat part?

Our fence is 6' tall, so if a coyote can climb an 8' fence, it can climb mine. Dang, I never knew a coyote could climb like that! But you'd think that in the exertion of climbing a 6' fence, grabbing a bird, and climbing back out, there would be some feathers lost or something. This just keeps getting weirder the more I think about it.

 

[Cochaura]

How was her flying ability? Maybe it startled her and she somehow got out? I couldn't believe coyotes can climb that high either - its quite amazing what the predators are able to do. One solution I read about is to put pvc on a wire and install it around the top of your fence - they'll have more trouble climbing over that as it will just spin. Maybe she is out there somewhere exploring!
One of ours just disappeared this evening - she did it last night, but only for a short while. Tonight, she hasn't come back and its now dark I've read a few scenarios of chickens disappearing for days on end. I hope she's just out in the field with the rudy pheasant that has been hanging out at the perimeter squawking at the ladies.
I hope you are able to find her - she is a beautiful bird! I love her name too