so sad i lost one of my barred rocks....

[wendy]

we bought our chickens in early may and they were four months old then. we waited awhile before we let them free range. i mean we just have been letting them free range for maybe four weeks now.
anyway, i am a stay at home mom and i go out often and check on the chickens. we have been letting them free range and they go in at pm to be locked up in the coop for there own safety and our piece of mind! we were very cautious letting them out just three hours before dark at first, etc.
well one of the many times during the day i go to check on them and i am missing one. i count three times, they keep moving around as i count.
still missing one, so i go looking can't find anything. then i go get my son and put him on the four wheeler while the baby takes a nap. my plan was to ride the perimeter of our land. i was praying the chicken got off to far and was lost and just eating bugs away from the house and pen. well i came across something so sad, feathers everywhere, lots and lots of beautiful feathers. no blood, no body! i don't know what got her in broad daylight less than a hundred yards from the house!
my husband works offshore and he called after his shift was over. i had to tell him, he is the one that was all for free ranging. i was scared for them. then i saw how they just loved it. now he does not want them to free range. i don't want anymore to disappear either.
so what am i to do? put toys in there for them? what can i put in the pen that surrounds there coop to keep them entertained?
what got our chicken? i saw no blood no body just feathers. the area the chicken was close to was not woods down here we call it a thicket or alot of underbrush. there would be no way for me to go in there and walk around and try to see what happened to her!

 

[Motherhenandflock]

Oh I am so sorry!

Here's a big virtual hug from me to you.

 

[Poison Ivy]

Sorry for your loss. Thats why I don't let mine free range very often. Our property is not fenced and neighbors have dogs. Plus we seen a hawk a several weeks ago and I'm hearing owls again at night. I just throw some grain on the ground and I have different roosting poles set up in the run for them. I also throw in grass clipping, veggies, popcorn etc... for them. They are fine and don't seem to be lacking for anything. Better safe then sorry and they are locked in the run now for a while. I have new 8 week old girls in the run. I'm not up to chasing them to go back in the run. I'm to old for that! lol

 

[wendy]

thank you for the post. i am just sad, poor chicken attacked out of no where.
thank you poison ivy for the ideas too.

 

[BeckyLa]

I lost a BR hen a few weeks ago, too. Just gone. Not a feather or sign anywhere, just gone. It was probably the Red-Tailed Hawk. I don't see it often, just once in a great while. But loosing the occasional bird is part of free ranging, unfortunately. The only other alternative is to keep them in a covered secure run. Even then once in a while something figures out a way to get in.

 

[jackiedon]

I am so sorry!! Barred rocks are so pretty.

jackie

 

[wendy]

Quote:
i know, but we don't know what got her. we have a coyote that runs if he sees a human. there is a fox we see at times. we can't get either of them as of yet. i heard alot of crows earlier before i found she was missing. but i did not think much of it. every once in awhile you hear them making a lot of racket. i don't know what it was. and the chickens were getting more and more comfortable with going out far from the house. i have gone out easily four times in a hour to "shew" them back towards the house and pen area. because if they get near the tree line and thicket there is no telling what could be in there that could be waiting for them to get close. just like today!

 

[nuchickmama]

I am so sorry for your loss. It is so sad to lose any of the birds when they become such a part of the family. My heart goes out to you and the family.

 

[wendy]

thank you everyone for the kind words, yall are so great here

 

[AccidentalFarm]

I throw scratch or small treats of whatever sort into a deep tote box lid full of shavings and dirt and DE and mix it all up for the girls to dig around in. I think it gives them something interesting to do-digging for 'treasures'. You could do the same thing in the flocks enclosed yard.

Another thing they might enjoy is pecking at a head of cabbage or broccoli or such if you hang it up where they can just reach it if they stretch. Or- and I haven't done this, but I just thought of it - you could use an empty vegetable can with some holes poked into it, filled with scratch and hung up so that when they peck at the shiny metal, scratch will fall through the holes....