- Oct 3, 2011
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Wondering what it may be. Suggestions?
We have our coop/pen in a back corner of the yard. It is open at the top. Two sides face two different neighbors properties. We've had it there since the end of July without prior incidents.
Usually I let the chickens roam our fenced in yard during the day, then most days I lock the door to the pen at night (again, most of the pen is open). Friday it rained, and I decided not to walk out and lock at night (I leave unlocked on occassion). Yeasterday I was super busy all day, and didn't go to play with them till almost dark. I noticed 4 of my full grown chickens were missing - 2 silkie hens and 2 polish birds. All 4 usually sleep in the bottom of the coop (along with a few others) and it touches the ground. There was not an unusal amount of feathers anywhere, I was really just hoping they were hiding in the yard somewhere. I did lock the pen last night. I noticed that none of the remaining chickens were roosting in the bottom pen, which is unusaual for some.
I went out this am, there were feathers all over the pen and coop that looked like they were from 3 of the 4 that I noticed were missing last night (locking the pen means they would not have been able to get in at all last night). I have a young cochin missing now, too. He was sleeping last night (in the pen) in a box a few feet off the ground. My full grown silkie roo's comb is bloody and he's lethargic, and my full grown dominique's comb is bloody, too. They were sleeping in the top of the coop with a bunch of others.
The feathers were all over the coop, part of the pen, over the property seperating fence (foreclosed house property), and then seem to stop at the bottom of the back of the fence. No more traces of chickens - bodies, feathers, anything.
I just don't get it. The feathers of the missing chickens weren't there last night but are there today. Whatever it was dragged them over the fence. What happened from there? What could it be?
We have our coop/pen in a back corner of the yard. It is open at the top. Two sides face two different neighbors properties. We've had it there since the end of July without prior incidents.
Usually I let the chickens roam our fenced in yard during the day, then most days I lock the door to the pen at night (again, most of the pen is open). Friday it rained, and I decided not to walk out and lock at night (I leave unlocked on occassion). Yeasterday I was super busy all day, and didn't go to play with them till almost dark. I noticed 4 of my full grown chickens were missing - 2 silkie hens and 2 polish birds. All 4 usually sleep in the bottom of the coop (along with a few others) and it touches the ground. There was not an unusal amount of feathers anywhere, I was really just hoping they were hiding in the yard somewhere. I did lock the pen last night. I noticed that none of the remaining chickens were roosting in the bottom pen, which is unusaual for some.
I went out this am, there were feathers all over the pen and coop that looked like they were from 3 of the 4 that I noticed were missing last night (locking the pen means they would not have been able to get in at all last night). I have a young cochin missing now, too. He was sleeping last night (in the pen) in a box a few feet off the ground. My full grown silkie roo's comb is bloody and he's lethargic, and my full grown dominique's comb is bloody, too. They were sleeping in the top of the coop with a bunch of others.
The feathers were all over the coop, part of the pen, over the property seperating fence (foreclosed house property), and then seem to stop at the bottom of the back of the fence. No more traces of chickens - bodies, feathers, anything.
I just don't get it. The feathers of the missing chickens weren't there last night but are there today. Whatever it was dragged them over the fence. What happened from there? What could it be?
