Mystery! Missing Chickens.

[MammaSteele]

I have a little dilemma....

I have 6 laying hens and 2 pullets. I’ve had the hens for close to a year and things have been great, except for the murder of two young pullets last month.

Two days ago, on Halloween, I went into their enclosure to feed and water and care for them. To my surprise, my black sexlink hen was MISSING! She never gets out. I have had some escapees, but they only ever hang around in the neighbor’s yard or behind our fence, trying to get back in.

To make it more mystifying, my Austrawhite had her eyeball pecked out, or severely injured, obviously in pain and trying to hide. I have had her in the coop by herself. At first I thought it might be my gold sexlink, she is pretty aggressive and I blame her for the loss of my pullets. But today, I went out this morning to find another of my hens missing! My brown Leghorn this time!

What in the world is going on here? There were absolutely no signs of struggle, no blood, no feathers. The hens are in an enclosure with poultry netting over the top, and there is a coop in the enclosure where they go to lay, but I imagine a rodent or small critter could maybe manage to wriggle in under the fence and enter the enclosure, maybe.

Any insights into my problem would be appreciated! I’m at a loss. I’m concerned for my Austrawhite’s eye injury. She has been in the coop on her roost and hasn’t really moved much. Do you think one of my hens did this to her, or maybe a predator? I can’t imagine there would be zero signs of struggle if it were a predator attack.

Please help! This is my first chicken emergency.

 

[Abriana]

Sounds pretty strange. Are there any holes anywhere in the coop/run? Even small, small ones?

 

[MammaSteele]

There are some areas between the bottom of our fence and the ground, where rain runoff has washed out some rocks. But no, there are no holes or gaps in the coop.

I haven’t locked them up in their coop at night, though, thinking their enclosed space would suffice. I am going to start that routine this evening, because I fear I may lose more.

 

[Abriana]

I’m sorry but I don’t know, since there aren’t any holes, I don’t see how they could be disappearing. A camera would be extremely helpful to you, that way you can watch and see how they are getting out/being taken. I hope you have no more problems! Locking up at night is a great practice to start. Is the run covered in chicken wire or hardware cloth? Raccoons/other predators can reach in and grab hens. That could explain the hens eye and the missing ones. Have you found any tell-tale feathers?

 

[MammaSteele]

There have been no feathers, no blood, no tracks from predators that I’ve seen.

Their area is covered with poultry netting.

Would it be odd for a hen to attack her flock mate’s eye after being together for a year?

 

[Abriana]

This is really interesting! Now I’m dying to know how they’re getting out/taken. Can you post a picture the coop/run?
It could have been a mere accident. The hen could have gotten caught on something, or she could have had something in her eye and the other hen pecked it. As the blood flowed the other hen just kept pecking-not to be mean, that’s just the cruel world of chickens. Have you cleaned it out?

 

[Abriana]

What exactly do you mean by poultry netting?

 

[sbhkma]

Poultry netting is good for keeping birds in. It sucks for keeping predators out. I'd replace it with hardware cloth and I'd also get a game camera so you can see what is getting at your birds cause something is. Sorry for your losses.

 

[Abriana]

I definitely agree with with sbhkma, replace it with hardware cloth, and bury it about a foot below ground level. Maybe even run and an electric wire around the edge, that will really deter predators.

 

[sbhkma]

I have hardware cloth and I also run electric wire around it about 3 inches off the ground on insulators that extend out 5 inches. I use a solar fencer that's set for 3 miles of fencing so it's got plenty of juice. Any predator comes around the first thing they do is sniff out the area to check for weak spots or a place to climb. ZZZZAPPPP! End of problem.