lehouseofdog
Chirping
This is long and I'm sorry. I have a question, I recently posted in the predator thread because after 4 years of blissfully owning chickens, I have a predator problem and a disease problem. My speckled sussex was killed a couple of weeks ago while I was in the shower. My girls free range in my fenced suburban yard. There is generally lots of cover except of course for this time of year. It was a weekend so we were home and in and out, it was in the morning around 10. I cooped the girls and after a week of nothing, no sightings, we let them out again.
Tuesday morning while my husband was home, Margo, my beautiful BCM was killed by what I assume the same hawk. My husband found her around 10 am when he was pulling the trash cans out to take to the curb. He said it looked like she went down swinging. He didn't hear anything.
So it doesn't seem to matter if we are home or not. I know I now have a hawk problem and they will keep returning.
My question now is about chicken behavior. I have one chicken left, she's an 11 month old Sapphire Gem that I got over the summer when I added the speckled sussex. She's not doing well. Chickens are social, I know. I am feeling awful about the hawk attack and don't really want to add another bird. Gem is living in the tractor right now. And when I am out there, I let her out when I can supervise. She's just refusing to come out. She's not coming to the bottom of the tractor in the mornings to forage.
To complicate things about adding a chicken - I bought a double laced barnevelder off Craigslist over a year ago. She started limping and I thought she had bumble foot. When I caught her (she was never super friendly) to examine her, she went into cardiac arrest and died. I didn't take her for necropsy but now I suspect it was mycoplasma Synovitis (sp?). The lady wasn't NPIP and she had way too many birds in a way crowded conditions so we took one bird home. Before that Barnevelder died, I had added two speckled sussex pullets. One of them ended up dying from unknown reasons 3 months after I got her, she just didn't develop as fast and seemed failure to thrive. I took her to the vet and put her down and we did a necropsy. There was no clear cause of death but she did test positive for Mycoplasma Synovitis. The vet said it was an oh, by the way finding, that at some point she had been exposed. I suspect the Barnevelder was the one that brought it in. Since that's the only bird I have purchased in a questionable manner (I've since learned my lesson)
So my flock was from that point on closed and all considered carriers for MS and I can't add anymore birds or sell any birds. I didn't want to depopulate and start over because I loved my BCM who is my avatar.
So I now have one depressed chicken that is 11 months old, in the prime of her life that is considered a carrier for MS
WHAT DO I DO?
Tuesday morning while my husband was home, Margo, my beautiful BCM was killed by what I assume the same hawk. My husband found her around 10 am when he was pulling the trash cans out to take to the curb. He said it looked like she went down swinging. He didn't hear anything.
So it doesn't seem to matter if we are home or not. I know I now have a hawk problem and they will keep returning.
My question now is about chicken behavior. I have one chicken left, she's an 11 month old Sapphire Gem that I got over the summer when I added the speckled sussex. She's not doing well. Chickens are social, I know. I am feeling awful about the hawk attack and don't really want to add another bird. Gem is living in the tractor right now. And when I am out there, I let her out when I can supervise. She's just refusing to come out. She's not coming to the bottom of the tractor in the mornings to forage.
To complicate things about adding a chicken - I bought a double laced barnevelder off Craigslist over a year ago. She started limping and I thought she had bumble foot. When I caught her (she was never super friendly) to examine her, she went into cardiac arrest and died. I didn't take her for necropsy but now I suspect it was mycoplasma Synovitis (sp?). The lady wasn't NPIP and she had way too many birds in a way crowded conditions so we took one bird home. Before that Barnevelder died, I had added two speckled sussex pullets. One of them ended up dying from unknown reasons 3 months after I got her, she just didn't develop as fast and seemed failure to thrive. I took her to the vet and put her down and we did a necropsy. There was no clear cause of death but she did test positive for Mycoplasma Synovitis. The vet said it was an oh, by the way finding, that at some point she had been exposed. I suspect the Barnevelder was the one that brought it in. Since that's the only bird I have purchased in a questionable manner (I've since learned my lesson)
So my flock was from that point on closed and all considered carriers for MS and I can't add anymore birds or sell any birds. I didn't want to depopulate and start over because I loved my BCM who is my avatar.
So I now have one depressed chicken that is 11 months old, in the prime of her life that is considered a carrier for MS
WHAT DO I DO?
