We’ve lost one of our lovely Ameracauna hens. Dan arrived home from school and went to collect eggs, and Lola had vanished. No feathers, no signs of a raccoon or other airborne predator, she was just gone. Dan looked until dark, and I looked in the morning, to no avail. The other girls were all fine.
Times like this is when henkeeping loses its glamour. I hope where ever, what ever happened to poor Lola, she did not suffer.
October 29, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Oh, no! That stinks.
October 29, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Yep, it does.
October 29, 2009 at 9:38 pm
Ali, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Maybe Lola just lost her way. Was she in the coop or pen? Maybe she hitched a ride to the post office. I know these situations do occur, but it is heart wrenching nonetheless. My neighbor stopped by to inform me of a situation his buddy had in the town of Hiram. Went to close up his coop for the evening and all 15 of his girls were dead. He is a seasoned chicken keeper of 20 years and is dumbfounded over the situation. He heard or saw nothing. Please keep us posted. Lola come home!
October 29, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Thanks, Julie. I hope she is just lost. All the girls were out in their large fenced in area. We hoped she had just escaped for a quick trip to town, but we haven’t seen her anywhere.
That is awful about your neighbor’s friend. I would be heartbroken!
October 29, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Oh no! So sorry!
October 29, 2009 at 10:30 pm
What a shame! I hope she just went for a long stroll and didn’t get carried away by some other critter. :(
October 30, 2009 at 8:04 am
I’m so sorry you lost poor Lola. How sad.
October 30, 2009 at 9:13 am
When raccoons killed three meat chickens one night all I found was part of a leg. =( Horrid creatures.
October 30, 2009 at 9:24 am
Hey Ali-this just happened to me a few weeks ago! My new girl is still not 100% part of my established flock. Before I got the coop closed one night, the older girls kicked her out. She came out to the front of barn where I could see her and she was also seen by my neighbor with whom I was speaking. I went to close the coop a few moments later and she was gone! Disappeared. There was no predator involved as we had just walked our dogs who would have alerted us to a predator. We looked and looked-gone. I looked the next morning-nothing. My neighbour came again for a walk the next evening and she started to look for the girl. She thought she heard something and sure enough-there was the missing girl walking in the barn!
October 30, 2009 at 9:52 am
Its my first visit to your blog and I am sorry to hear about your loss. I wish you find her soon.
October 30, 2009 at 10:16 am
Sorry to hear this, Ali. Perhaps she’s safe but out and about to stretch her wings. Chickens (and other animals) do sometimes reappear after being lost for a while. Here’s hoping!
October 30, 2009 at 11:46 am
Oh no! I’m sorry, Ali.
I don’t want to spread false hope, but one of ours hid in a shed for two days once … if something went after Lola, hopefully she got away and hid herself well.
October 31, 2009 at 5:17 am
So sorry to hear about Lola. It seems that the ‘not knowing’ is the hardest part, just thinking of all the unanswered questions.
October 31, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Ali, any news on Lola? Keeping my fingers crossed she has come home.
November 1, 2009 at 6:44 am
I keep checking back to see if she’s returned. We had a chicken hide out in the woods for a week once.
November 1, 2009 at 8:54 am
So sorry about Lola. You never know…..I have seen miracles happening with chickens. My prayers for a safe return.
November 1, 2009 at 6:11 pm
my girls can free range, within reason. i watch them, well, like a hawk! one of them suffered almost complete blindness after being attacked by a raccoon in the middle of the day.
November 1, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Thanks for all the concern, unfortunately, still no Lola. We spent a lot of time out with the girls today, but still not a trace — its as though she was abducted by aliens.
November 2, 2009 at 1:00 am
Oh no…poor Lola. So sorry, Ali :-(