Our little white pullet disappeared into thin air! What could have happened?

[Curious1234]

In the past couple of days, we have been letting our chickens run free in the backyard because it's been so cold recently (and their coop is in a shady area). But today, I let them out and was gone for approximately 10minutes but when I came back, our white barred rock hen who is only about 7 months old was gone! We looked all over the neighborhood for her but couldn't find her. She was one of our favorites and we only have 6 chickens. We do have falcons? Hawks? Anyway, big birds circling above at some times....do you think they took her or she somehow could have managed to get outside?
:'(
And once this happens, does the likelihood of it happening again increase? Maybe will will just buy a run and put them inside.
Please help me figure out what happened and how to prevent it in the future.

 

[HEChicken]

A white rock is a fairly large bird so it would have to be a pretty big bird of prey to carry it away. I'd lean more towards a fox. I know from experience they can get in and out and carry a large bird away with them, without leaving much of a trace at all. I'm sorry for your loss...

 

[shmccarthy]

A bird of prey would have an extremely difficult, if not, impossible time carrying a pullet away especially a white rock. I would also lean towards fox. They wait and watch for the perfect opportunity and they take their prey, leaving little to no evidence behind. I would say to just not let them out of your sight and possibly invest in a game camera and put it on the coop to see if anything is coming around when you are not around. If you can figure out what is coming by, you will be more able to prevent something like this happening again. I'm sorry about your pullet.

 

[Curious1234]

But I don't think we have any foxes in the area. I live in the suburbs. The pullet was actually only 4 months old (I mistakenly thought we purchased them as baby chicks in May. Actually, they were born in mid Aug). So she was still pretty small. Are there any other options of what could have happened? This happened in broad daylight and we already miss her!

Thank you for the comfort everyone.

 

[HEChicken]

Foxes are actually very common in the city. I now live in the country and have had a couple of fox sightings since moving, but saw many more foxes in the city. Foxes can climb very well too – they’ll climb a wire fence like it is a ladder.

 

[Wdithrich]

One of my younger hens disappeared from t he chicken run 2 weeks ago, and i assumed a fox or raccoon or hawk. Lots of predators around here (santa rosa, ca). Anyway, two weeks later, she has now reappeared, back with the gang. My friends' hen went off for two months and returned. So not to get your hopes up, but your pullet might be on a little walkabout!