- Jun 11, 2007
- 11
- 0
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I take care of a flock of 50 (now 48
) for the 'little old lady' I rent a barn from for my horses. They are now 8 weeks old and free ranging during the day. The farm owner is always around and 'keeps an eye' on them during the day while I'm at work.
Wednesday night when I went to shut up the coop, I noticed the one RIR of the whole group was missing - just one. If it hadn't been the RIR, I probably wouldn't even have noticed. I looked EVERYWHERE for him, not a sign. They don't stray far from the barn just yet, and have tons of places to hide from prediators, as well as access to their fenced area & coop at all times (only the chickies can fit through the fence gate the way we set it right now, a full grown chicken wouldn't even fit through). Thursday night, all was well - 49 on the roosts when I had them all in for the evening. Last night, 48.
And the farm owner was surprised as she said she kept an 'extra close eye' yesterday. Again, only one and again, no signs - no feathers no nothing.
I have the next three days off work, a mini vacation. I'm determined to put a stop to this - where do I start trying to figure out what it might be? At this rate, there won't be any that make it long enough to even start to lay, and the fenced area is far too small for all of them as they are growing (she's kept chickens many times in the past, and always free ranged them during the day so this was the plan from the beginning).

Wednesday night when I went to shut up the coop, I noticed the one RIR of the whole group was missing - just one. If it hadn't been the RIR, I probably wouldn't even have noticed. I looked EVERYWHERE for him, not a sign. They don't stray far from the barn just yet, and have tons of places to hide from prediators, as well as access to their fenced area & coop at all times (only the chickies can fit through the fence gate the way we set it right now, a full grown chicken wouldn't even fit through). Thursday night, all was well - 49 on the roosts when I had them all in for the evening. Last night, 48.

I have the next three days off work, a mini vacation. I'm determined to put a stop to this - where do I start trying to figure out what it might be? At this rate, there won't be any that make it long enough to even start to lay, and the fenced area is far too small for all of them as they are growing (she's kept chickens many times in the past, and always free ranged them during the day so this was the plan from the beginning).