I have a small flock of two month old chickens. They have an 8' x 8' coop with a 8' x 16' covered run attached, surrounded by a fenced chicken yard that's 24' by 64'. The chicken yard has a hot wire to keep my dog out and is surrounded by the dog's yard to keep other critters out. The run is covered with 1/2 inch hardware cloth and a layer of shade cloth (stretch tight) over that for shade and a wind screen. This afternoon all the chickens were outside enjoying a watermelon and running around under the bushes in the chicken yard. I go out to lock them up this evening and one is missing. I look all over the place, and no chicken. Every one else is fine setting in for the night with no sign of stress. I'm really getting puzzled no sign of anything in their yard, no feathers in the dogs yard, nothing. Then I notice a lump on the outside of their run. Some how she had managed to force her way up between the shade cloth and the hardware cloth and got stuck there. That shade cloth is stretched tight and tied down every 8 inches at the bottom. I had to cut the ties to remove a very flat and very dead chicken from there. I have no idea how she manged to wedge herself in there, much less why. There was plenty of shade in the run and under the bushes. She was way away from the edges of the yard so she wasn't scared by the dog running around in his yard and if there had been any critters after the chickens Robbie would have been barking up a storm..( possibly asking them in dog to throw him a hen, but making a lot of noise none the less) Suicidal chicken? taking a dare to squeeze herself in there? Transporter accident?
