I have not been on in a while, but needed a place to Vent, and share...
Oh, what a HORRIBLE week!!!!
I have a nice, large coop, easily big enough to house 40+ birds comfortably in the winter (1/3 of the coop even has a SECOND FLOOR, and there are MORE than enough roosts above THAT for over 50 birds..!!!!), I can keep many more in the summers since they are ALWAYS out during the long, Alaskan days, free-ranging and playing, and are never inside, except to lay and sleep....
Here is the whole story.....
At the end of last winter, I had about 35 birds of my own in my coop, and almost a year ago (in the spring), a REALLY good friend of mine (who is the MOST WONDERFUL person to EVER walk the face of the PLANET), ran into some trouble, and had to down-size her flock (apparently the area she lives in only allowed a certain number of birds, and she was WELL over that number). I LOVE this woman, she is MORE special to me than my own family, who does NOT get my love for my Chickens, including my hubby!!!), so what else could I do, but (GLADLY, and HAPPILY..!!!!) take ALL of her excess birds in... Roosters and all. I did not care, she has ALWAYS been there for me whenever I need her, for ANY reason, and at ANY time, and I would do ANYTHING for her! I would have gotten rid of ALL of my birds for her! It was early summer / late spring at the time, and although my coop can house MANY, it was just too crowded, so I got rid of half of my own birds (with NO regrets(including my roosters, who proved to NOT to be able to tolerate new roos in their coop)) to make room for my friends Babies. At that point, more than 75% of the birds I had here were hers.... It was a wonderful arrangement for all of us (and made me feel SOOO good to be able to help her out!), and everything was BEAUTIFUL for months! Nothing was wrong...
Then winter came, and, being in Alaska, and the winters being so long, the birds were feeling "cooped up", and would not go outside. And although I ran into this before, when during the winter some of the birds end up with the feathers on their backs being plucked, nothing "terrible" ever happened. We always used to Spray the bare-backed hens with Blue-Kote..... This year, was going like any other..... Everything was going well... We were getting excited about summer being just a couple of months away, and starting to talk about how WONDERFUL it will be to see our babies go out and enjoy the green, and warm sunshine again, outside of their coop and enclosure....
This winter was hard, and although the hens were sprayed with Blue-Kote many times a week, the feathers were still being plucked.... But, everything seemed OK, and there was not any issues other than the feather picking.... So we left it alone, and kept on spraying the Blue-Kote....
Then a bit over a week ago, all HELL broke loose!!! When going out to feed and give fresh water, we found a dead bird in the Coop, it was eaten starting at the vent, insides pulled out.... Just terrible... 2 other hens were seriously injured (my friends hens)... One was hurt / ripped at the vent, bloody, and mangled, and another had a hole ripped out on her side. I have had birds for a few years now, and NEVER seen anything like this.... I called my friend IMMEDIATELY, and she came over right away.... We thought something had gotten into the coop, and walked all around, but found NO tracks from a potential predator (the coop is fenced all around, and they have a LARGE run, and part of it (about 100 square feet) is covered, so it is a snow/wind proof area for them during the winter...
Since I can NOT handle blood and gore, my friend took the 2 injured birds home, and is (still) being a Nurse for them, taking wonderful care of them....
We made some chickens saddles, and we saddled ALL the hens that were plucked on their backs, even if there was a feather out of place, they were saddled.... Fearing the birds were going CANNIBAL, I sprayed a "No-Chew" bitter, and utterly DISGUSTING spray on the bird's rear ends, vents, sides, backs, wings, and necks....
Everything was OK for a week...
I went to check on the birds yesterday, and saw my favorite hen (a dark olive egger, and the ONLY Olive I had, who was my BABY), sitting on the nestbox, laying, so I scratched her neck, talked to the birds, and went back inside the house.....
An HOUR later, I went back out, to gather the eggs (the Olive Egger eggs I was collecting to put in a Bator to hatch, as she was PRECIOUS to me!), and when I walked in the coop, my Olive egger was BLOODY in the rear, looking like get GUTS were ripped out of her, frantically running around, with a couple of hens and a rooster following her... I FREAKED, and gathered her up in my arms, carried her to the house (leaving a blood trail as I walked, and put her in a kennel, when I did, blood squirted all over the floor.... I screamed, then went back out and looked at the other hens... A LOT had wounds on them... Near vents, and on their sides.... I called my friend, I was HISTERICAL, saying I wanted to get RID of them all, because I could not handle anymore of this... I was TERRIFIED to go into my OWN coop now! Since the first bird was killed a week prior, I was scared of cannibalism..... I was having NIGHTMARES about my babies being eaten alive by the other hens! And I mean vivid, terrible dreams!
My friend tried to calm me down, said we should sell some of the birds, and she came right over..... While waiting for her arrival, I saw her Prized rooster try to go after the vents of a couple of hens, and realized that HE was a part of the group of birds that were doing this!!!
I KNEW that I could NOT sell them as "layers", because they have gone cannibal on me, and I could not bare to sell them to someone and have THEIR flocks damaged..!!!
I know a woman who is oriental, and she, and her family LOVE fresh birds, so I called her to come get them for cheap....
My friend showed up first, and she helped me go thru the flock and decide which ones to get rid of..... And when the lady showed up, and they were packing up the birds to take away, I kept on loosing it, and crying like an idiot.... I felt so helpless.... a FAILURE..!!!!!! Most of these birds, including a BEAUTIFUL Lavender Orpington rooster who was a CHAMPION, were my FRIENDS.!!!!! I do not know WHAT I did wrong to cause this. I have NO idea, but I feel SOOOOO terrible..!!!!! (crying again)
My friend thinks she can save my Olive Egger, And she took her home with her when she left, and is trying to nurse her back to health.... (Crossed fingers)
She says that it was NOT my fault, and that it is the nature of the chicken, but they were MY responsibility! And this happened at MY house!!! It's MY fault.!!!!
Today, I went out, and trimmed the beaks of all the birds I had left to prevent anymore problems.... I am doing the Salt-Water treatement. I am cooking Fish/meat pots to boost protein. I am serving cabbage, carrots, lettuce, apples, broccoli, and MUCh more to try to give them SOMETHING to peck, OTHER than each-other......
I don't know what else to do...
I went from a flock of 43 to less than 20... in a DAY....
I do not think that I will EVER forgive myself for what happened.... I am just going to have to make it up to my friend.... Somehow...... I searched online, and bought her 10+ CHAMPION ameraucana eggs, they are supposed to be VERY blue, and the birds are supposed to be TOP OF THE LINE.!!!! I don't know what else to do to try to rectify this... I feel SOOOOO terrible..... Like I FAILED her..... Most of these birds were HERS....
Thank you guys, for reading... Just needed to share.....
Less than 2 Months til SPRING!!!! (Hopefully no more birds decide to KILL eachother!) In the meantingI will do what I can to prevent this EVER AGAIN..!!!!
Oh, what a HORRIBLE week!!!!
I have a nice, large coop, easily big enough to house 40+ birds comfortably in the winter (1/3 of the coop even has a SECOND FLOOR, and there are MORE than enough roosts above THAT for over 50 birds..!!!!), I can keep many more in the summers since they are ALWAYS out during the long, Alaskan days, free-ranging and playing, and are never inside, except to lay and sleep....
Here is the whole story.....
At the end of last winter, I had about 35 birds of my own in my coop, and almost a year ago (in the spring), a REALLY good friend of mine (who is the MOST WONDERFUL person to EVER walk the face of the PLANET), ran into some trouble, and had to down-size her flock (apparently the area she lives in only allowed a certain number of birds, and she was WELL over that number). I LOVE this woman, she is MORE special to me than my own family, who does NOT get my love for my Chickens, including my hubby!!!), so what else could I do, but (GLADLY, and HAPPILY..!!!!) take ALL of her excess birds in... Roosters and all. I did not care, she has ALWAYS been there for me whenever I need her, for ANY reason, and at ANY time, and I would do ANYTHING for her! I would have gotten rid of ALL of my birds for her! It was early summer / late spring at the time, and although my coop can house MANY, it was just too crowded, so I got rid of half of my own birds (with NO regrets(including my roosters, who proved to NOT to be able to tolerate new roos in their coop)) to make room for my friends Babies. At that point, more than 75% of the birds I had here were hers.... It was a wonderful arrangement for all of us (and made me feel SOOO good to be able to help her out!), and everything was BEAUTIFUL for months! Nothing was wrong...
Then winter came, and, being in Alaska, and the winters being so long, the birds were feeling "cooped up", and would not go outside. And although I ran into this before, when during the winter some of the birds end up with the feathers on their backs being plucked, nothing "terrible" ever happened. We always used to Spray the bare-backed hens with Blue-Kote..... This year, was going like any other..... Everything was going well... We were getting excited about summer being just a couple of months away, and starting to talk about how WONDERFUL it will be to see our babies go out and enjoy the green, and warm sunshine again, outside of their coop and enclosure....
This winter was hard, and although the hens were sprayed with Blue-Kote many times a week, the feathers were still being plucked.... But, everything seemed OK, and there was not any issues other than the feather picking.... So we left it alone, and kept on spraying the Blue-Kote....
Then a bit over a week ago, all HELL broke loose!!! When going out to feed and give fresh water, we found a dead bird in the Coop, it was eaten starting at the vent, insides pulled out.... Just terrible... 2 other hens were seriously injured (my friends hens)... One was hurt / ripped at the vent, bloody, and mangled, and another had a hole ripped out on her side. I have had birds for a few years now, and NEVER seen anything like this.... I called my friend IMMEDIATELY, and she came over right away.... We thought something had gotten into the coop, and walked all around, but found NO tracks from a potential predator (the coop is fenced all around, and they have a LARGE run, and part of it (about 100 square feet) is covered, so it is a snow/wind proof area for them during the winter...
Since I can NOT handle blood and gore, my friend took the 2 injured birds home, and is (still) being a Nurse for them, taking wonderful care of them....
We made some chickens saddles, and we saddled ALL the hens that were plucked on their backs, even if there was a feather out of place, they were saddled.... Fearing the birds were going CANNIBAL, I sprayed a "No-Chew" bitter, and utterly DISGUSTING spray on the bird's rear ends, vents, sides, backs, wings, and necks....
Everything was OK for a week...
I went to check on the birds yesterday, and saw my favorite hen (a dark olive egger, and the ONLY Olive I had, who was my BABY), sitting on the nestbox, laying, so I scratched her neck, talked to the birds, and went back inside the house.....
An HOUR later, I went back out, to gather the eggs (the Olive Egger eggs I was collecting to put in a Bator to hatch, as she was PRECIOUS to me!), and when I walked in the coop, my Olive egger was BLOODY in the rear, looking like get GUTS were ripped out of her, frantically running around, with a couple of hens and a rooster following her... I FREAKED, and gathered her up in my arms, carried her to the house (leaving a blood trail as I walked, and put her in a kennel, when I did, blood squirted all over the floor.... I screamed, then went back out and looked at the other hens... A LOT had wounds on them... Near vents, and on their sides.... I called my friend, I was HISTERICAL, saying I wanted to get RID of them all, because I could not handle anymore of this... I was TERRIFIED to go into my OWN coop now! Since the first bird was killed a week prior, I was scared of cannibalism..... I was having NIGHTMARES about my babies being eaten alive by the other hens! And I mean vivid, terrible dreams!
My friend tried to calm me down, said we should sell some of the birds, and she came right over..... While waiting for her arrival, I saw her Prized rooster try to go after the vents of a couple of hens, and realized that HE was a part of the group of birds that were doing this!!!
I KNEW that I could NOT sell them as "layers", because they have gone cannibal on me, and I could not bare to sell them to someone and have THEIR flocks damaged..!!!
I know a woman who is oriental, and she, and her family LOVE fresh birds, so I called her to come get them for cheap....
My friend showed up first, and she helped me go thru the flock and decide which ones to get rid of..... And when the lady showed up, and they were packing up the birds to take away, I kept on loosing it, and crying like an idiot.... I felt so helpless.... a FAILURE..!!!!!! Most of these birds, including a BEAUTIFUL Lavender Orpington rooster who was a CHAMPION, were my FRIENDS.!!!!! I do not know WHAT I did wrong to cause this. I have NO idea, but I feel SOOOOO terrible..!!!!! (crying again)
My friend thinks she can save my Olive Egger, And she took her home with her when she left, and is trying to nurse her back to health.... (Crossed fingers)
She says that it was NOT my fault, and that it is the nature of the chicken, but they were MY responsibility! And this happened at MY house!!! It's MY fault.!!!!
Today, I went out, and trimmed the beaks of all the birds I had left to prevent anymore problems.... I am doing the Salt-Water treatement. I am cooking Fish/meat pots to boost protein. I am serving cabbage, carrots, lettuce, apples, broccoli, and MUCh more to try to give them SOMETHING to peck, OTHER than each-other......
I don't know what else to do...
I went from a flock of 43 to less than 20... in a DAY....
I do not think that I will EVER forgive myself for what happened.... I am just going to have to make it up to my friend.... Somehow...... I searched online, and bought her 10+ CHAMPION ameraucana eggs, they are supposed to be VERY blue, and the birds are supposed to be TOP OF THE LINE.!!!! I don't know what else to do to try to rectify this... I feel SOOOOO terrible..... Like I FAILED her..... Most of these birds were HERS....
Thank you guys, for reading... Just needed to share.....
Less than 2 Months til SPRING!!!! (Hopefully no more birds decide to KILL eachother!) In the meantingI will do what I can to prevent this EVER AGAIN..!!!!
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) but you have to realize, it was not your fault. You did all you could, you sound exactly like me, I would freak out cause of the gore, I would be buying my friend (equivalent to your champion eggs) a horse, but, the one thing that we most have in common is, we would think its our fault. Its not, dont put this guilt on you, OK, hope everything turns out well
So we do what we can with what we have........ 
