One More Chicken Gone

[so lucky]

Silly speckled Sussex was so noisy, and she couldn't find the rest of the chickens yesterday afternoon. I guess they were down in the cornfield. I am presuming Fiona was squawking away in the front yard while the neighbor across the road's golden retriever got out. I never saw a thing, and there are no feathers remaining. I just know that Fiona is missing. (Penny was inside)
She was pretty tame, and when approached by someone/something, would just squat instead of run. She had been caught by dogs twice before, but was not injured badly. Third time's the charm?
They are limited to only a couple of hours out of their enclosure in the late afternoon, but even that is apparently too much.

 

[Smart Red]

So sorry. Still, silly hens have a way of disappearing and reappearing without reason or excuse. Wait until bedtime tonight to start worrying and then, if she's brooding on eggs hidden somewhere, it might be 21 days before she reappears. Good luck!

 

[Nyboy]

Sorry you know the saying everything likes a chicken dinner. Only you can decide life safe in a fenced run, or risks free ranging . When I had mine, I thought the risks was worth quality of life being free a couple hours a day.

 

[Beekissed]

Did you take a stroll over to the neighbor's house to see if the golden was playing with a dead hen? Usually a retriever won't eat them but will carry them around from here to there, just pulling at them or playing with the carcass.

If she's not there, she could have been driven to hiding somewhere and is scared to come out...I'm with Red on this one, just wait and you may see her again.

For others worried about free ranging safely, here's some points that can help with safer free ranging:

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bees-key-points-to-successful-and-safe-free-ranging

 

[Smart Red]

Good article, Bee, well written, informative, and down to Earth. I consider myself very lucky with my free ranging chickens. None have been lost in the 4 years to predation in the 4-5 years I've had them. My big plus here is the absence of free-running dogs.

I didn't like hearing about the danger of being barred-rock colored since I ordered a "mixed breed hatchery choice" and was sent all barred-rock pullets. So far, the chicks have been too chicken to test the outdoors pen to which they have access. At almost 4 weeks old, they might need a push outside and a locked door for a while although I've never had a problem getting my birds to free range at an older age.

Chipmunks and gophers are a thing of the past (almost) since DS brought his cats out to the farm. I think I might worry about the cats until the chicks are a bit bigger or living as part of the whole flock.

 

[Beekissed]

I usually just monitor the first interaction between the cat and the chicks and give a correction if they show any overt interest...serious interest, that is, in stalking and catching them. So far that's worked just fine.

I had one cat that loved to stalk the flock, pounce at any stragglers to make them run and scream, then would lie down with a big ol' Chessy grin on his mug. He got so good at rounding up the chickens that I would call him when they got out of the fence and he'd chase them back in for me, then sit down and look like everything was right in his world. Sure miss that cat!

 

[Nyboy]

Great article made a lot of sense.