We got our first chickens in March of last year. Got a speckled Sussex roo of the same age about a month later from a nearby neighbor. Super friendly with people, and makes sure his girls eat before he does, I've never seen a rooster before with his good temperament.
All had been great so far. No injuries, no deaths. I love watching them run around the yard and woods.
Fast forward about a year, to earlier this month. We let two of our chickens go broody, and had 8/10 hatch naturally. So 10 hens, a roo, and 8 chicks.
We had a neighbor letting them in and out while we were out of town for the 4th of July (we completely free range, no fence of any kind, the neighbors don't seem to mind as long as they get eggs and fresh garden veggies), this neighbor has been raising chickens since he was a child, has quite a flock now as well, and he's older, so it's safe to say that he knows what he's doing. I'm not placing any blame on him whatsoever.
We came back, and one of the chicks was just gone. It was one of the slower babies, so I just assumed that a small hawk picked her up (The other full grown chickens are too fat for the hawks here, I've witnessed a raptor attack before, and my roo won't let his girls go without a fight, and they are big, so the rooster can get there before the hawk is able to do any real damage, because it's unable to fly off with my fat-*** chickens), so I'm assuming that the raptor picked the smaller slower animal for dinner. It's all right though, one of the negatives of true free-ranging I guess. Now the baby hawks have something for dinner too, all is fair. It lived the best life possible. (And I think it may have been a roo anyway...)
Two days after we get home one of my adult hens is gone. I inspected about two square acres with a black light and couldn't find any evidence of a struggle. With the exception of wolves, we have just about every predator in North America here, and the area we live in is remote enough where they thrive. Again, I wrote it off as a predator attack that I will never truly know about.
A few days later, after counting my chickens while putting them away I was one short, and found her dead underneath of the trailer that they like to hide under. She had no injuries whatsoever, and didn't appear to be eggbound (although I'm not a vet, and I can't say that for sure). She was obviously able to make it to her "safe spot" before succumbing. No predator attack there.
That's 3 gone (so far) in a week after having them for over a year.
Next night, I'm doing my count and one is missing, we look everywhere and can't find her. Every now and then they've been known to roost in a tree, so I don't worry about it too much, she'll just be waiting on the front porch in the morning before I let her friends out. It's not common, but it's happened a few times. Next morning, the chicken is still nowhere to be found, did the same large area inspection, and found a no sign of a struggle.
A few days ago, I see a bobcat during daylight hours out by the chicken coop. I'm currently in the process of "taking care" of that issue.
This morning, my son (who lets the chickens out in the morning) came to tell me that one of the chicks was dead in the coop. Rigor mortis hadn't even set in yet, she was still warm(ish). Just laying there in the floor litter. I did a "light" autopsy, and was unable to find any injury or cause of death. She seemed perfectly healthy last night.
If I can't figure out what killed them, I don't eat them, they get buried.
Anyway, after not losing a single chicken for close to a year and a half, we've lost five in a two week period.
Just wanted to vent a little while I stand on the porch shooting bottle rockets at low flying hawks.
All had been great so far. No injuries, no deaths. I love watching them run around the yard and woods.
Fast forward about a year, to earlier this month. We let two of our chickens go broody, and had 8/10 hatch naturally. So 10 hens, a roo, and 8 chicks.
We had a neighbor letting them in and out while we were out of town for the 4th of July (we completely free range, no fence of any kind, the neighbors don't seem to mind as long as they get eggs and fresh garden veggies), this neighbor has been raising chickens since he was a child, has quite a flock now as well, and he's older, so it's safe to say that he knows what he's doing. I'm not placing any blame on him whatsoever.
We came back, and one of the chicks was just gone. It was one of the slower babies, so I just assumed that a small hawk picked her up (The other full grown chickens are too fat for the hawks here, I've witnessed a raptor attack before, and my roo won't let his girls go without a fight, and they are big, so the rooster can get there before the hawk is able to do any real damage, because it's unable to fly off with my fat-*** chickens), so I'm assuming that the raptor picked the smaller slower animal for dinner. It's all right though, one of the negatives of true free-ranging I guess. Now the baby hawks have something for dinner too, all is fair. It lived the best life possible. (And I think it may have been a roo anyway...)
Two days after we get home one of my adult hens is gone. I inspected about two square acres with a black light and couldn't find any evidence of a struggle. With the exception of wolves, we have just about every predator in North America here, and the area we live in is remote enough where they thrive. Again, I wrote it off as a predator attack that I will never truly know about.
A few days later, after counting my chickens while putting them away I was one short, and found her dead underneath of the trailer that they like to hide under. She had no injuries whatsoever, and didn't appear to be eggbound (although I'm not a vet, and I can't say that for sure). She was obviously able to make it to her "safe spot" before succumbing. No predator attack there.
That's 3 gone (so far) in a week after having them for over a year.
Next night, I'm doing my count and one is missing, we look everywhere and can't find her. Every now and then they've been known to roost in a tree, so I don't worry about it too much, she'll just be waiting on the front porch in the morning before I let her friends out. It's not common, but it's happened a few times. Next morning, the chicken is still nowhere to be found, did the same large area inspection, and found a no sign of a struggle.
A few days ago, I see a bobcat during daylight hours out by the chicken coop. I'm currently in the process of "taking care" of that issue.
This morning, my son (who lets the chickens out in the morning) came to tell me that one of the chicks was dead in the coop. Rigor mortis hadn't even set in yet, she was still warm(ish). Just laying there in the floor litter. I did a "light" autopsy, and was unable to find any injury or cause of death. She seemed perfectly healthy last night.
If I can't figure out what killed them, I don't eat them, they get buried.
Anyway, after not losing a single chicken for close to a year and a half, we've lost five in a two week period.
Just wanted to vent a little while I stand on the porch shooting bottle rockets at low flying hawks.
