MixFlocksRule13
Chirping
- Mar 28, 2020
- 29
- 17
- 61
No pleasant posts here. Just a flock of 5 that may have went down to 4
Some time last week (I was out of town and had my grandma taking care of the hens), my Ancona hen Aretha went missing while left out of the coop (I told them to keep turn out limited to while somebody was present at the property, but some people don't want to listen). We have seen no signs of her anywhere, no neighbors have seen her. Normally I would think a predator got her if it weren't for our surroundings
We are surrounded by neighborhoods. Our 50 acres, surrounded by 2 neighborhoods and the frontage road. No predators show up, except for dogs, cats, and hawks. Our hawks are too small, however. All the cats here are our own, and they were introduced to the chickens at a very young age. They have never shown any predatory behaviors toward the chickens. That leaves a dog...
Now, I have checked the property and alerted neighbors. No signs of her anywhere. Nobody has seen any blood. However, I did find a suspicious pile of feathers in a hay cart
This isn't how it originally was. All the feathers were there in that pile, and they were all pointing a similar direction, if I recall. Don't take my word for it, though, I was in a panic and don't remember entirely. When I saw it, I stirred it around to look for blood. And nothing. However, I did find this...
A clump of feathers amongst the pile. They're all attached at the ends. I haven't seen chickens molt like this. I don't know if you have. But I think this was pulled off of her (I am about 90% sure these feathers are Aretha's. They may be Pearl's, but she is a Plymouth Barred Rock and they don't look like Rock feathers)
So what do you think? Missing Chicken or mystery predator? I'd think predator, but if these feathers are the site of the crime, then that leaves us with about nothing. No dogs could come in here (as far as we know), no hawks could come in here, and our cats are still territorial towards other cats (ruling out any strays or neighbor cats), but nice to to the hens (ruling out themselves)
Some time last week (I was out of town and had my grandma taking care of the hens), my Ancona hen Aretha went missing while left out of the coop (I told them to keep turn out limited to while somebody was present at the property, but some people don't want to listen). We have seen no signs of her anywhere, no neighbors have seen her. Normally I would think a predator got her if it weren't for our surroundings
We are surrounded by neighborhoods. Our 50 acres, surrounded by 2 neighborhoods and the frontage road. No predators show up, except for dogs, cats, and hawks. Our hawks are too small, however. All the cats here are our own, and they were introduced to the chickens at a very young age. They have never shown any predatory behaviors toward the chickens. That leaves a dog...
Now, I have checked the property and alerted neighbors. No signs of her anywhere. Nobody has seen any blood. However, I did find a suspicious pile of feathers in a hay cart
This isn't how it originally was. All the feathers were there in that pile, and they were all pointing a similar direction, if I recall. Don't take my word for it, though, I was in a panic and don't remember entirely. When I saw it, I stirred it around to look for blood. And nothing. However, I did find this...
A clump of feathers amongst the pile. They're all attached at the ends. I haven't seen chickens molt like this. I don't know if you have. But I think this was pulled off of her (I am about 90% sure these feathers are Aretha's. They may be Pearl's, but she is a Plymouth Barred Rock and they don't look like Rock feathers)
So what do you think? Missing Chicken or mystery predator? I'd think predator, but if these feathers are the site of the crime, then that leaves us with about nothing. No dogs could come in here (as far as we know), no hawks could come in here, and our cats are still territorial towards other cats (ruling out any strays or neighbor cats), but nice to to the hens (ruling out themselves)
