What do you do when a hen goes missing?

[Melontine]

It's happened to me a few times now, one of the hens just up and vanish. Sometimes they return in the evening, sometimes the nest day, and once so far they don't return at all. There's no sign of predator attacks, and it is possible for them to fly over the chicken net run we let them in during the day. I don't really suspect foul (Fowl?) play but it still feels strange to me when one of the girls just isn't there with the others.
Today it was snowing. When I did my headcount in the morning, all of them were there. When I checked again in the afternoon, 1 was missing. I looked around a bit and figured she'd be back by evening, but she's not. There's still no sign of her. The snow's about melted again and thankfully has stopped, but I wonder where my hen could have wandered off to.
What do you do when your girls go missing? Do you set out and search or wait for them to come back? Do you speculate about what happened with them or just leave things be?

 

[Willow2253]

Do you have your run covered? And how high is the fence? If you don’t want them escaping I would start by securing the run so it’s harder to get out. Mine free range, but if I’m ever short on the headcount at night I’ll go check their favorite hiding places and usually that’s where they are. Otherwise, usually they should come back at night because they know the coop is a safe place for them to sleep. It’s possible yours hunkered down for the night somewhere because she wasn’t able to get home by bed time. I did have one occasion where a young pullet disappeared for the night and came back the next afternoon.

 

[Melontine]

The fence is pretty new, it's only about four feet high and isn't covered. Attached to that is a spacious covered enclosure that has their coop and food inside, they're usually pretty good about going back in there at night. We used to free-range but decided to put something up to keep them from heading into the neighbor's yards or into the road.
I don't mind them escaping so much, I just want to keep them a little more contained and make sure they've been locked up safely again at night. It's normally not an issue.

 

[Willow2253]

Is there a way for your missing hen to get back in when she comes back? I suppose she could probably fly back over the fence if that’s how she got out. I hope you find her. Sometimes it can just be a waiting game.

 

[Melontine]

She's back! Don't know how or when, she wasn't there this morning, but she's back in there with the rest of them now.

 

[Willow2253]

Yay, glad to hear it!

 

[centrarchid]

Be watching her to disappear more fully in the next day or two. If you find her alive then, she will either be frantically looking for eats in the middle of the day for an hour or so, or she will be on a secluded nest incubating a clutch of eggs. If the former, then I put out a pile of feed to let her feed up, then discretely follow her to the nest when she goes back.