[Bionic]

Realised at 3am that I hadn't shut the door to the chicken coop. It was peeing down too so I decided the girls would be ok.


WRONG ....... An hour later I woke up to an almighty screech. OH and dog went out to check and one girl is missing and another traumatised.


Feeling bad now that I neglected them

[Steph Hen]

Oh what a shame! I have made it a rule that I always, always go out. If the dog barks, there's something there, so it's coat, boots and torch. Sometimes if its a nice night, I end up just going for a walk at 3 am. Mr fox and probably some smaller preds try your shed every night. They wait for you to slip up, for the door not to be quite closed or as I did years ago, for you to shut one out by mistake! It's a horrible thing, but the majority of poultry keepers I know have lost birds to wild animals at some time. Sorry to hear this though, not nice.

[SallyintNorth]

 

[Kitchen Cottage]

 :bouquet:made the mistake earlier in the year.... didn't get back from work until midnight, went to be and remembered JUST as I was going to sleep about the coop.  No excuse because it is literally 30 yards from my bedroom.  Lost all 4 hens... the only one that survived was the hen in the medical wing (old rabbit hutch)... horrible feeling 

[mowhaugh]

Sorry to hear that, try not to beat yourself up too much.

[happygolucky]

  , not nice for you but I suppose that's nature.......I do not have to shut mine up as our garden is very secure. The fox can strike anytime, sometimes during the day so don't beat yourself up about it.
I think one of my  hens is not well as she did not run to me when I took out some treats....I always feel guilty!

[ZaktheLad]

I always entice my 8 girls in to their house well before dark just so I know I wont forget.  It's so easy to get emerged in something else that needs doing and to let shutting up the chooks slip your mind - don't beat yourself up about it, it happens     We have foxes around throughout the day at this time of year in particular - we often see them trotting across our field at 3:30pm.   

[Mammyshaz]

Don't beat yourself up about it, Sally. We have all done it. We are only human after all. I was very lucky that we don't usually have a fox problem but, as preveously mentioned, some people have lost hens with the same sinking gut feeling when disaster has struck.   

[Bionic]

Went to let the remaining 5 out this morning and the traumatised one just came down from the coop with the others as if nothing had happened and then..................... There was the missing one strutting around the stable yard


So all girls present and correct 


Now I am thinking that it wasn't mr fox after all but that they had had some sort of spat. Still, I won't be taking any chances in future

[Simon O]

2 of my hens started refusing to come back into the hut at night with the rest. I knew they were ok cos I would see them in the morning strutting about outside the pen before I let the others out. Now I haven't seen them for a while and I really think they must have been nabbed by the fox - but I keep hoping one day I will see them come out of the undergrowth with a line of chicks.

[ZaktheLad]

Brilliant news - she obviously fancied a night out on the tiles! 

[Mammyshaz]

Great news Sally 

[suziequeue]

Very relieved that you found your hen.

We have an automatic door closer on a timer which is great but as the days were getting longer and we hadn't got around to resetting the timer, the door closed before dusk.

The old hens had got in early but we had some newcomers who had just joined the flock and obviously weren't sure where to go, missed the door closing and stayed out. OH didn't check and we lost all four. Two lovely Buff Orpingtons and two lovely RIRs.

I would recommend a door closer but their coop is behind electric netting which we open each morning to let them free range and we do a head count every night now.

There is nothing worse than the feeling that I've let my livestock down in some way through and act of omission.

[happygolucky]

  ........................well that's good to hear

[doganjo]

Went to let the remaining 5 out this morning and the traumatised one just came down from the coop with the others as if nothing had happened and then..................... There was the missing one strutting around the stable yard


So all girls present and correct 


Now I am thinking that it wasn't mr fox after all but that they had had some sort of spat. Still, I won't be taking any chances in future

Wow, how lucky is that!   Like others I wasn't so lucky, all my ducks and all but one hen.  Just the one slip forgetting to lower the pophole.     Foxes don't come here during the day as my dogs are always out in teh front paddock, but they could easily jump my four foot fence there so the new birds are in the back - pointed railway fence all round, and the 10 foot sound barrier as well. I once saw a video of an urban fox getting over a 7 to 8 foot brick wall, I think it was an urban fox that got mine as people are feeding them up in the village.