Why do predators always seem to get your favorite hens?

We lost one of our favorite hens to a fox this morning. My husband was up on the roof and heard her squeal. She had gone out near the road, and a fox was chasing her. He said the fox would grab her, she would escape, but the fox would be right on her again. He hollered from the roof, but to no effect. I was inside and oblivious to what was happening. The ladder was on the back of the house. He ran across the roof and rushed down the ladder, yelling to me that a fox had her. We both rushed out, but only found feathers near the end of the driveway. We searched for her, my husband spent more than an hour, but found no sign of her.

Green, (we get very creative with names; she had a green band on her leg), was a free spirit. The rest of our flock stays in the approx. 2 acre area we have fenced in. But Green easily jumped over the fence and came and went as she pleased. She kept our 11-year old dog company (and helped him eat his dog food). She often greeted us when we came out the back door. She would come when we called and she was always in the hen house at night. My husband suggested we cut her wings a few times, but I was dragged my feet and did not encourage him. A few days ago he commented that he had seen her going out toward the road where she was more vulnerable to predators (it's a dirt road with more woods on the other side), and we should clip her wings. But we delayed. If we had, she would probably still be here.

The only good thing is my husband saw what happened. Otherwise, when we just saw feathers, we would have suspected a hawk. Hawks have always been our biggest challenge. My husband feels particularly bad. He saw it, but couldn't do anything from the roof. And he didn't clip her wings. It's been more than a year since we've lost a hen to a predator. We put up bobble-head owls and it's kept the hawks away. But I think we got less vigilant and, unfortunately, one of our favortie hens paid the price.

 

Good News! I went out to the chicken yard and Green was there! She escaped the fox and came home! We looked for a long time, but I guess she stayed hidden for a while. She has a small puncture wound under one of her wings, but it seems to have closed up already.

We are lucky, but it's a wake up call to be vigilant.