Very strange event

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golfdiva

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Hi, new here, wrote a long intro in newcomers if you are interested.

So, I had a flock of 9 hens a rooster and a male Pekin. We started losing hens by one or two in the early evening, disappearing without a trace.
Assuming it was a fox, we started locking everyone up by 5 o'clock and that seemed to stop the problem until one day I got home late. Found the duck's body with teeth marks through the neck. Am down to 3 hens and a rooster now.

Two days ago my husband goes out to lock up the chickens, and here is one of our missing hens! Hanging out by the coop like she hadn't been gone for two weeks! Husband calls others from the woods, they come running. Rooster sees her and immediately does his wing dance crowing happily. The other hens then start "fighting" with her for pecking order. They all go into the coop and all is as it was before!

Please speculate: Where was she for two weeks? Why didn't the fox get her? Why did she come back?

I am happy but baffled!
 
It doesn't really sound like a fox, they don't normally leave carcasses unless they are disturbed and similarly unless the chickens manage to scatter and hide or he is disturbed he will kill the whole lot in one go, your rooster has survived which is another sign as he would normally engage the fox to give his hens time to scatter, if it was a fox and he hasn't then he wasn't doing his duty. With regards to the missing hen I can only assume she has headed for cover during the attack, once they are deep in bushes they are very hard to see, probably cowered under a bush for a day or so in shock, lost her bearings and been roosting and roaming in the woods, why it has taken her so long to come back I couldn't honestly guess at.
 
Thanks for the reply. I figured the duck got left as he was too big for the fox to carry, he maybe even died after the fox gave up.

What else could carry away chickens without leaving a trace?
 
Foxes have been known to carry off adult geese so I'm not sure it would leave a duck for that reason, though it would depend on the individual fox I suppose. I'm not saying it definitely isn't a fox of course, just doesn't sound like one to me from the behaviour. Here in the UK the only thing I can think of that would kill and carry of a single chicken at a time and leave no trace would be an eagle or a badger but over in the US you have a lot more predators so I'm not really sure what you have around where you live.
 
Could she possibly have got broody, been off laying her clutch every day without you seeing where she want, then gone off into the woods and started brooding, but for some reason given up after only two weeks?
It's quite common for free ranging hens to do this and return later with some chicks in tow.
 
List of possibles I have read for the US (single bird taken without trace at dawn or dusk) is Fox, Hawk and in rare cases Cougar.
 
Here is an update if anyone is still interested.

My husband ran into a neighbor at the store who confessed that the hen had hung out on their garage with their cat for 2 weeks.

I heard a fuss in the backyard. I looked put the window and saw nothing but went outside. There were some piles of feathers here and there and a fox chasing the rooster! I scared away the fox but couldn't find the chickens. After a couple of hours they all emerged from the woods and were locked up - the rooster without his tail feathers!

For now the chickens remain in the coop/pen unless someone is outside with them.
 

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Your Rooster did his job well then Golfdiva- decoyed or distracted the fox to give the hens a chance to escape. Strange about the hen on the garage with the cat! Pleased she has returned. The fox will as well.

Seems your foxes behave differently to the ones in the UK where they kill all and then take one. Here in the South of France foxes hunt in packs like wolves and take them all- up to 20 in one go leaving no trace except perhaps a few feathers.
 
Update: The fox did indeed return - to the neighbor's. Their dog chased it into the barn and he shot it. Not too happy about killing a fox for being a fox, but we have not had any problems since. Just wish there were a better way to find al with predators!

Thanks all for your comments!
 
A good end to an interesting story, golfdiva, thanks for sharing it! I hope no other fox moves in on his territory - and indeed, that he was the only one locally.
 
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