Predator Attack need advice

[Leopold]

Yesterday around 1pm

I had a flock of 13(12 Hens and 1 Roo) they are all about 4 months old. Yesterday while I was in the garden I heard something only to come back to a pile of feathers in one spot. Found 6 of them hiding behind the coop and found one spot of nothing but feathers no blood no body. Later on last night at dusk one came out of hiding in the woods. We are still missing 5 pretty sure one got attacked and the other 4 ran off since I have only found 1 patch of feathers on the ground. Is there any chance the other 4 may be still hiding we have walked everywhere doing the chicken call with bag of treats and everything but no luck.

My daughter is pretty heart broken and I hope they will come out of hiding we have checked all the houses on the road no luck. Should we prepare for the worst?

 

[SMorrison7k]

Yesterday around 1pm

I had a flock of 13(12 Hens and 1 Roo) they are all about 4 months old. Yesterday while I was in the garden I heard something only to come back to a pile of feathers in one spot. Found 6 of them hiding behind the coop and found one spot of nothing but feathers no blood no body. Later on last night at dusk one came out of hiding in the woods. We are still missing 5 pretty sure one got attacked and the other 4 ran off since I have only found 1 patch of feathers on the ground. Is there any chance the other 4 may be still hiding we have walked everywhere doing the chicken call with bag of treats and everything but no luck.

My daughter is pretty heart broken and I hope they will come out of hiding we have checked all the houses on the road no luck. Should we prepare for the worst?

I had a neighbor's dog get into my coop once it was horrific. One of my hens took almost a full 24 hrs to come back home. I would prepare for the worst, but you may be lucky enough to get a couple of stragglers!
So sorry for your loss...especially for your daughter.

 

[bantamluv]

Sounds like a fox to me. Typically, foxes grab birds an run off, leaving only feathers. This happened to my friend and her remaining 5 birds ran off into the woods and stayed there for about tree days and then returned home. Yours should still be fine... I hope they come home

 

[Silver Sebright]

The predator could be a wild cat, or a bobcat, or even a raccoon. They are known for killing their prey and then taking it somewhere else to eat it. The chickens that ran away could still be alive. But chickens usually can get lost easily in the woods and animals along the way could pick them off. So I would suggest thinking about buying new chickens. Is there anyway the chickens could get under anything? Are they good flyers because I've had a chicken that when it felt threatened flew up into a tree to hide.

 

[Leopold]

Well we saw a fox run by earlier this evening so I am guessing it was a fox. Trying to trap it now but hoping the other chickens come back.

 

[SMorrison7k]

Well we saw a fox run by earlier this evening so I am guessing it was a fox. Trying to trap it now but hoping the other chickens come back.

Good luck!

 

[Silver Sebright]

Well we saw a fox run by earlier this evening so I am guessing it was a fox. Trying to trap it now but hoping the other chickens come back.

Sounds right, foxes will kill them and take into the bushes and remove all feathers and eat it. Especially if they are still small.