So I had to visit my mum for a week & left my flock in charge of DH, who is good to go about collecting the eggs & making sure the girls are in for the night. He's not really a chicken fan but he loves me so he was pretty distressed to ring me the first morning & say one of my Rocks was missing ~ & he didn't know which one because he can't tell my girls apart.
There was nothing I could do but I figured she'd gone broody & was holed up somewhere & would turn up ~or not~ when I got home. We don't have a lot of predators so I was hopeful. I got home to find it was my sweetest chook, Ophelia, who was missing. I called. I put out treats. I checked roosting spots @ night. No chookie.
A week went by. I found her abandoned nest with 2 eggs in it. Then today I spotted a chook moving under my neighbour's verandah so I grabbed the treats & began calling. Four chooks arrived ~ from the other direction. I moved closer to the fence & there she was, very, very dead.I don't know how I'd missed her.
I'd looked there before & more than once. Nothing to indicate a predator attack. I suppose it could have been a snake or she just went into a broody trance but I miss her. She's the one in the middle. RIP sweet Ophelia.
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I'm so sorry. Sending hugs
