Hey all—
Came home this evening to a dead mama hen (buff Cochin if that matters) and her only chick (hatched out 10 days ago) is missing. She was in the back corner of the coop (a corner the chickens never go to) behind the nesting boxes, facing the wall—she was already stiff and cold. No obvious signs of trauma upon my brief inspection (waiting to look again until the morning so I have daylight and my husband will be home to help me). Once removing her, I checked on all my other chickens and counted all my other new chicks (I had three broody mamas hatch out at same time). Her chick is the only one missing. The chickens were left in their fenced area today since I was going to be gone all day. We have a guardian dog and have never lost a chicken under suspicious circumstances. I looked all around and see no signs of the missing chick or a struggle (lots of feathers or something similar). The only thing I can imagine is a hawk got her baby and she died from some sort of injury or stress? The fact that she went to hide in the dark corner of the coop lets me know something traumatic happened to her. Her and her chick were the easiest targets out of our entire flock of 33. I know it’s impossible to say what happened but if anyone with experience can give me some probable causes I would appreciate it. I have been desperate for cameras on my animals but haven’t been sure how to go about that and this might just be the push I needed to get serious about surveillance. TIA.
Came home this evening to a dead mama hen (buff Cochin if that matters) and her only chick (hatched out 10 days ago) is missing. She was in the back corner of the coop (a corner the chickens never go to) behind the nesting boxes, facing the wall—she was already stiff and cold. No obvious signs of trauma upon my brief inspection (waiting to look again until the morning so I have daylight and my husband will be home to help me). Once removing her, I checked on all my other chickens and counted all my other new chicks (I had three broody mamas hatch out at same time). Her chick is the only one missing. The chickens were left in their fenced area today since I was going to be gone all day. We have a guardian dog and have never lost a chicken under suspicious circumstances. I looked all around and see no signs of the missing chick or a struggle (lots of feathers or something similar). The only thing I can imagine is a hawk got her baby and she died from some sort of injury or stress? The fact that she went to hide in the dark corner of the coop lets me know something traumatic happened to her. Her and her chick were the easiest targets out of our entire flock of 33. I know it’s impossible to say what happened but if anyone with experience can give me some probable causes I would appreciate it. I have been desperate for cameras on my animals but haven’t been sure how to go about that and this might just be the push I needed to get serious about surveillance. TIA.