Dear Lord!! I just got quite a scare a moment ago. Dad came inside to say he found a pile of feathers by the fence that separates our yard from the neighbor's, and that my girls were scattered all over the yard, including over the fence in the woods behind our house.
I was sure one of my girls was a goner. And I know who to blame - the neighbor's pit bull. Dad said she was hanging around earlier today (though this wasn't mentioned until AFTER the little episode) They don't take care of that dog, they just bred her recently, and she's skinny as a rail right now. She has spent time in our yard many times before. I've nailed her hiney with a pellet gun before, and it appears I must do so again.
Anyways, after rounding up everyone - which took several minutes (the silly girls got over the fence and couldn't figure out how to get back out again - I found the dog DID NOT kill one of the chickens. THANK GOD! But she took the entire tail off one of my hens, poor girl! That was the pile of feathers we found. I can only assume my awesome roo went into action and nailed that dog - I don't know how else to explain how she got away from that bull dog!
This has never happened before. I let my girls out to free range for an hour or so each afternoon, but only when I am at home. Let's just say I won't be free-ranging the girls for a while without supervision.