I HATE when that happens!

Lost a chicken this afternoon. Hawk attack.

Scene of the Crime

I certainly wasn't expecting to find a dead chicken today. Rouse the Spouse didn't have time to let the flock out of the safe zone and into the greater chicken yard this morning. I didn't go out until this afternoon to release them into the bigger yard. They were standing at the door of the safe zone awaiting my arrival. I was approaching, clucking at them and being by usual silly self, when I saw a big bird rise up out of the supposed empty chicken yard ...  a pile of feathers on the spot from which it had flown. One of the Dominiques had been taken down.

The question is … why was that hen in the chicken yard? Did she not go to roost last night? If not, why not? We usually close up the coop after dark, without taking attendance, assuming they're all in … because they always are! Or did the hawk get her late in the day yesterday, returning for the spoils today? Then again, the bird was not stiff. I don't think she'd been dead long. Plus, the hawk managed to eat only the neck before my arrival scared it off. The rest of the chicken was intact. Maybe she had somehow squeezed out of the safe zone? I don't know what would inspire her to do that. Strange that the hens did not seem weirded out at all when I found the gruesome sight. They were calm and eager to get out for free-range time despite the fact that a hawk had just been hanging out in their neighborhood. It's just another unsolved chicken mystery.