how is this possible? :o(

[MitchyInge]

I shut 3 chickens into their ark last night, this morning there were only 2. No sign of Betty anywhere

There must be a way in / out ?

A (slightly fatter) Mr Fox?

it must have been a fox, this scuppers their free ranging when I'm not actively supervising them

maybe I should give them to someone responsible

I thought I did, could have been mistaken - but where would she go?

I shut 8 in my Omlet cube one night and only 7 came out in the morning, not a trace of feathers etc. She never appeared, I began to wonder if they were all there when they went to bed too., but as I only had 2 gingernuts, not that easy to miss a red head!

if I had to count up to 8 I might be even more doubtful that I got it right, but even I should be able to count up to 3!

maybe we can expand flock in the spring/summer, this is probably not the time to rehome any more ex-batts

fel so irrationally demoralised about the whole thing though

I would be surprised if it was a fox, tbh, as they generally kill all birds and then return for the bodies. Could she have been stolen? There have been quite a few chicken thefts in our area lately

foxes tend to be messy
there are other contenders that kill chickens but to get it out of the house with no signs... very odd
sorry you've lost one.

I just found her! Well the dog found her, in the utility room - she seems totally fine, goodness knows whether she has been in there the whole time or just on her holidays somewhere but am SO HAPPY to see her again!

Nom nom nom

Glad she's turned up. Someone actually stole a duck from my dad a couple of years back - it was living with the Marans, so he did know it was in the ark at night, in the morning it was gone and no trace. He was most put out as he had gone to great lengths to get this duck as my mother had banned them, and she had managed to ignore it on purpose for over a year. We were having a sweepstake on when she would acknowledge it.

did that naughty cat Fabio chase her in there?

CMOT maybe your Mum dispensed of the duck if she didn't like it?

No, it wasn't her - for a start she can't wring the neck of birds. She does like ducks, but they had previously trashed the garden, hence the ban

glad you found her

Good news!

Ah, I love a happy ending!