one of my hens ran away this am!! please help!

[mchandler]

I went to clean out the coop this morning and 2 of my 12 chickens flew out, I immediatly caught one, however the other (a black austrolorpe ) about 15 weeks old ran off and now i have lost track of her. I have been looking for about 2 hours now and have not seen any sign of her! I talked with neighbors and left a note on the door of one that wasnt home and also has chickens maybe a thousand feet away. When she flew out she went into the woods and over toward where the neighbors chickens were. They have a rooster and a bit later I heard it crowing and thought she might be over there (i do not have a rooster) however I don't know the neighbor and no one answered so i did not want to go into their yard!

Will she come back on her own? I have the rest of the chickens in the coop now and left the run wide open with lots of food and water.

They have never been outside of the run / coop.

please help! thanks!

 

[danielle82]

Oh No! Hopefully she steers clear of loose dogs! I would think she would try and get back home when she is thirsty, unless she finds water to drink, then I would think she would want to come home to roost! Do you know what time your birds usually got to "bed"? I would try to be outside at that time with some chicken food I'll be keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[wenlo]

She'll most likely be back on her own. Watch when the other hens go in for the night and be there to help her get back in again when she shows up.

 

[cindy99]

Maybe you have already tried this but when I want mine to come to me I shake the coffee can full of sunflower seeds and they all come running. Also, if I even whisper the word RAISIN it's like a stampede. Maybe you could start training them to "come to the can" so if it happens again you will be able to catch them.

Hope she comes home soon!

 

[Beaker Duck]

Don't panic. I know of many people who have had chickens escape and run off. Even ones that ran off in the evening and didn't come back till the next day- in the SNOW.
I would probably let the other chickens out in to the run- their noises might help the runaway head for home. LEave some food and water outside the run, and keep an eye out for her return. You could go out every so often shake a can of food calling her.
Chances are you will look out and she'll be there, giving you a goofy look and demanding to be let in with the others.Just don't worry too much.
Keep us updated when you find her!!

 

[mchandler]

thanks guys! I'm going to let my chickens out in the run. and put some food on the outside. They normally head in on their own about 815p. I think they were just getting a little flighty because i was cleaning out the coop and run and had them in there. They were not to fond of the garden rake and a snow shovel that i was using to clean up. I told about 5 neighors which happened to be about every second or third house and gave them my number. Only 1 other time had one gotten out and it was one of my leghorns and she stayed within 30 feet of the coop and run and went back in on her own but the austrolorpe just kept going on the other side of the woods in the next neighborhood area - there's maybe only 20 houses over 30 acres so not too crowded..ugh.

 

[mchandler]

ok you guys are AWESOME!!! I put food and water outside, and then let the rest of the group come out. Within 30 mins I saw our lost hen come running up to the run. Then I slowly went outside, rounded up the rest in the coop and opened the run then she ran right in. I then closed up the run and opened the coop and all were re-united! They were all talking. I was so excited! The rest of the hens were able to do in 30 mins what I couldnt do in 4 hours of searching. Thanks for all the wonderful ideas and a happy ending! I've only posted like a dozen times or so on here but have spent weeks upon weeks of reading old posts. It seems every question has been asked in a thousand different ways, I was freaking out though. Thanks again,

Matt

 

[danielle82]

Yayay!!! :d

 

[turtlebird]

hmmmm, wandered over to visit the Rooster, you say? You had better watch that one!

I once read a thread on this site about a hen that fell in love with the neighbor's rooster and no matter how hard they tried to keep her home, they couldn't break the bond of love. I think the two parties involved finally traded hens.

 

[mchandler]

Quote:
Haha, seriously there may be something to that, because when she got out she headed that direction. At least on the bright side, my hen came home and I met some of my neighbors that I never met in the three years that I have lived here...