Helllo , Yesterday my son called me at work crying his eyes out and told me to come home that the 7 chicks and the mom had been killed. To some people this my be normal in the chicken world, but not to me. At only 8 months old our little hen sat on 10 eggs and hatched 7 of them out, the other 3 were not fertile. She was a great mother and her mate Big Sal was a good dad, he kept watch out for her all the time when she was sitting. The way they were killed was the coop was very secure except the roof that was nailed down but only about 8 inches apart all the way around. during the night something went in through the gap between where it was nailed after getting on top of the run i had added on to the front for them to come out on during the day. The roofing i used was the plastic green colored patio wavy looking covering. What ever it was it ate every single chick and chewed the neck up on the momma hen Biscuit, and left her laying in the coop. It appeared that she put up a hard fight but was just no match for what ever it was. Our family loved those chicks and Biscuit a whole lot, I would spend alot of time with them and just started letting them out to wonder around on the ground and Biscuit would show them how to look for food, how to scratch and Big Sal was really being a good dad he would also give them food. Now it is all gone. Big Sal is lonely and goes around to the coop where i had them and cluck and make noises and crow and gets no reply and is allways looking up at the coop it breaks our heart. I just hate the fact that my son had to open the coop door to see what he saw. Biscuit was only 8 months old and the chicks were almost 2 weeks old. So everyone please mkae sure that you leave no stone unturned when you build your coops. Not sure if it was a coon or possum, they thrive in the woods behind our house and neighbor feeds the racoons all the time i see sometimes 4-5 coons over there eating at a time. Take care of your pet chickens.
REST IN PEACE BISCUIT AND BABIES
- Location: Alabama, And I hate it !
- Joined: 8/2011
- Posts: 85
- offline
I don't know what I would do if that happened. Luckily I heard from my neighbor he hasn't seen foxes or coons around here since he got a couple hunting dogs. I am hoping our Fort Knox will withstand even if an attack does occur.
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