my hen is missing or dead?

[teresarose]

Hi so I have a large but somewhat young hen in my flock of seven ( now perhaps six ). Yesterday in the middle of the day, my hen went missing. We searched everywhere. We live in a rural area with subdivisions and I live on a street. To my dismay, in the cornfield behind our property, I found a fair amount of her down. None of her flight feathers, just down. In the soft mud, there are no foot prints. Other than her feathers, there is no sign of a struggle. I hoped she would return, but this morning, she failed to do so. Is she perhaps missing, or was she killed?

 

[RodNTN]

I am very sorry about your missing hen Hopefully she will turn up.
Do your neighbors have dogs?

 

[teresarose]

I am very sorry about your missing hen Hopefully she will turn up.
Do your neighbors have dogs?

They have one, but she is fenced in and can not get to our chickens.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Good morning, welcome to BYC!

My first hope was that she would have been broody and hiding a nest!

But your description sounds like an areal predator.

Hope she turns up healthy.

 

[Kiki]

Sorry your girl is missing.
Hawks?

 

[RodNTN]

Hawk maybe? Scattered feathers are usually a sign of a predator attack

 

[teresarose]

Good morning, welcome to BYC!

My first hope was that she would have been broody and hiding a nest!

But your description sounds like an areal predator.

Hope she turns up healthy.

She was broody not to long ago, but we solved that problem. thank you, I do too.

 

[teresarose]

Sorry your girl is missing.
Hawks?

It could possibly be.

 

[teresarose]

Hawk maybe? Scattered feathers are usually a sign of a predator attack

 

[azygous]

Have you searched in all of the out-of-the-way places a hen could squeeze into? I've had victims survive predator attacks by hiding between house and wood barrels on the front porch, squeezing between bales of straw, and other such places. They remained in hiding in shock for hours until I stumbled upon them. People have found their survivors high up in trees. Go outside and look up.