Missing hen :(

[Eirwen]

Hi all, well what I dreaded would happen has.. We have a missing hen! One of the cream legbars
She dissappeared during the day on Sunday, without a trace. All other hens completely fine, and no sign of feathers on the ground anywhere near, we searched the surrounding 6 acres, and nothing!

She was one of the ones who can hop the fence, and it did rain on sunday, so the only thing I can think of is that she went over the fence, it rained, she went into the woods for shelter, and a fox grabbed her? I did see a fox in their field last night when I went to make sure everyone was in. I din't think mr fox can get passed the electric netting or they'd be gone by now. But I am worried in case one of them goes over the fence again :-( The fence is over 4ft high, but a few of them can jump up over 6ft! So the only thing I could do is build fort nox.... Or keep them in a much smaller area with a roof.. But they love their big pen in the field..

Sigh....

 

[3441sussex]

I have an electric fence and know that we have foxes around. They have never got into the run and I don't shut the chicken in at night. I know, however, if a chicken gets out it is unlikely to be there by the next morning. I have fairly heavy breeds now, but have had chicken in the past that have flown up onto their chicken houses and then flown out over the fence. I have found that by clipping a wing this stops them flying and by the time the feathers have grown back they have lost the desire to fly out.

 

[dinosaw]

Really sorry to hear this Eirwen . I used to use electric netting and found that I had one hen who would occasionally escape and the rest never did, whether coincidence or not the escapes by the hen in question who was a goldline always coincided with voltage drops in the netting caused by earthing. So firstly I would say check the voltage and make sure it is where it should be, secondly I would say that there are chickens who love to escape and chickens who never try so just because one has gone doesn't mean the others will attempt it, all of your chickens could probably clear 4ft if they wanted, the whitestars definitely could whether their wings were clipped or not. I notice that you are in North Wales I don't suppose you have any eagles in your area, it's unlikely to be the cause but they are large enough to carry off a chicken and leave no trace.

 

[Eirwen]

Thanks guys. We do have big buzzards around which have shown interest in the hens.. That is a possibility I suppose. The hens all run and hide when they see the buzzards, which makes me think they may have had a close encounter before, or maybe it's just instinct..

All of the hens except for the sussex and blue ranger can fly over the fence without touching it. The rhode rock is able to go back and forth by jumping up in the posts! Most of the time the hens stay in their pen though, it's just occasionally one or two will have gone over, or sometimes tgey get really excited when they see me and will fly over to me. I could try clipping their wings I suppose, although the rhode rock can jump up and land on the post without using her wings..

I might invest in some sort of guard animal, I've heard alpaca's are good.. I want goats soon, would they help? Or I'll just have to pitch a tent in the field and guard them myself lol!

I do miss my hen.. They're all so tame and have had them since they were 3 wks old.. Too atatched now!

 

[dinosaw]

I have heard alpacas, llamas and donkeys all make good guard animals, never heard of goats being used in that role though. I don't know how long a perimeter your netting is but what you could do is put in an internal perimeter of netting which wouldn't need to be electrified set 2-3 ft inside of your existing netting which would mean that if they had any thoughts of flying out they shouldn't be able to clear the external boundary and would still be safe inside the electrified zone.

 

[Icemaiden]

Hi Eirwen.
So sorry to hear about your lost chook. I know it's peak season for fox attacks, as they're feeding cubs at the moment, but could it be possible that she's sitting on a clutch of eggs somewhere? I hope that she reappears in due course with some chicks, if you've got a cockerel of course...

 

[chrismahon]

That's a real shame Eirwen, after all the hard work you put in as well. Only hope she does turn up, but as said it is peak fox attack season now. Cream leg bars are good flyers and I would have expected her to be in a tree somewhere. We 'lost' ours several times only to find them again in the morning trying to get into the run for breakfast. It is always going to be a compromise between their freedom and their safety. If you clipped wings they would lose their primary defence against attacks so I wouldn't suggest that.

We have buzzards here and when a cockerel spots one he calls and all the hens dive for cover. One tried to land in the enclosure yesterday but was thwarted by the tripod posts we have in all the open areas to obstruct flight paths.