Chicken Mystery solved, but now a new problem......

[wombatcat]

Hi everyone, we have 8 hens and two roosters. They have a pen that is fenced in (6 feet tall) and I close up the chicken house every night and count to make sure everyone is there. Last Monday, I counted clucks at the end of the evening, and one was missing. The other birds didn't seem at all alarmed, as if there was a predator, but I walked all over the yard looking for feathers etc., anyhow. I didn't find anything.

I looked everywhere I could think for that little hen (she's a banty, hatched last year). Finally decided that a predator had gotten her, and wondered what I could do to keep it from happening in the future. It was sad.

In the morning, I had to leave for work, but I went out to feed everyone, and lo and behold, the little hen was in the pen, pecking around like nothing was wrong! But....when I got home from work, she was gone again.

I was out of town on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, so DH fed/watered everyone, and he knows/understands nothing of chickens. He can't count them, can't tell them apart and when I asked him if the little hen was there in the morning, he said "Geez, I didn't notice"

So yesterday, I went out to feed/water again, and she wasn't there.  I thought "hmm, well, I guess something got her, because she wasn't locked up at night..."  Then about ten minutes later, there she was.  I decided to watch to see if she went somewhere.  Just then, though, I noticed our big rooster had a string of some kind tangled around his foot and I knew I had to get it off there, so I ran into the house to get scissors.  You guessed it, when I got back outside, the little hen was gone.

So....today, no rooster was going to dissuade me from solving the mystery.  Since she wasn't in the pen when I arrived, I made a lot more noise than I normally would.  Suddenly, she seemed to appear out of nowhere, from the side of the chicken house.  I looked under a ledge, where I thought she came from, and there is a small hole in the wall, big enough for a small hen to go into/out of--something must've chewed a hole over the winter.

I think that's where she's been at.  And my suspicion is, that she is setting, because if she wasn't, she wouldn't disappear during the day.

The problem:  The wall with the hole is the outside wall, and there is a space between that wall and the "inside" wall, which was why I didn't see the hole from the inside of the chicken house.  So she is between layers of wall .  I'd be fine with her staying there, as I am pretty sure that she is pretty safe, but when the (hypothetical) eggs hatch, there's no way mama could get those babies out of there, the hole is about two feet up from the ground.  So I am trying to decide what to do.  I really REALLY do not want to remove a wall of the chicken house.  I have thought about blocking the hen from her hole, but knowing that there might be babies/eggs, I hate that thought too.  Argh!  I'm not sure if I'm actually asking for advice here, or just venting.  I'll know what to do eventually, I guess....but if any of you have dealt with something like this, please share!

[Deleted]

Maybe make a ramp of sorts so her babies can follow her in and out

[aoconnor]

Is there any way to remove just that small section to get any eggs out, then board it over so the little hen can't go back in?

It can be frustrating! I have a guinea hen sitting on a clutch under a pile of steel we have left over from demolition on one of our construction sites. That hen is buried deep under the pile, and I have no way to get to her. I don't know how I can get her babies if she has any hatch, guineas are notoriously bad mothers and I worry about her leaving them under there! Sigh...birds...

[Maura]

What a smart wee hen. I think a ramp is the only way to go.

[mzgarden]

I think I understand you are saying the hole is in an outside wall and she's between the walls of the chicken house. Are you saying her entrance hole is an outside wall that is also outside the run or is she coming & going but never leaving the fenced run?

Either way, I can only think of a ramp to help. But, if the outside wall with the hole means she is travelling outside the fenced run, then I think you'll need to build a small, temporary enclosure around that ramp as well.

[Bear Foot Farm]

the hole is about two feet up from the ground.

If the hole is that high, a ramp isn't going to help with getting any chicks out, assuming they are at the bottom of the wall, and it's a normal 3-4" thick.

I'd open up a hole on the inside, and then cover the outside if you are sure she has eggs

Depending on how it's constructed, it may be best to just forget about trying to save any eggs because it may not be worth the effort it will take to cut a new opening

[bergere]

If the hen can get in and out easy, then I would be worried about predators getting in and out too.

[wombatcat]

Bearfoot Farm has the picture, the hole is about 2 feet off the ground, I believe that any eggs are at ground level between the inside wall and the outside wall. The hole in the wall opens into an unused but fenced part of the pen (we used to have some broilers in there but don't use that part any more).
I am thinking that I am going to see if maybe we can pull some nails out on the inside wall and maybe remove just a part of it to see what is going on in there.

I tried telling myself that we could just board up that hole once the mama was out to eat....but it felt bad in my heart :-( So I guess some kind of rescue attempt is going to have to happen....

[mzgarden]

Ohhhh, ok. I wasn't visualizing this right. Door up 2 feet, eggs ground level between the walls. I agree then a ramp won't help. Sound like it'll have to be an inside job.