the WORST day yesterday!!! my daisey is gone

[RaeRae2]

DON'T LOSE HOPE YET!!!! Your hen might come back!!!!

I have a TERRIBLE hawk problem here - the hawks teach their young how to hunt by using my chickens as victims! We have a silo with pigeons in it, and the hawks breed in the woods behind us. I think their main diet is pigeons from my silo. I keep my chickens locked up most of the time, but they go crazy if they can't free range at all.

TWO times now (not just once!) I have found a huge pile of feathers, and a hen was totally missing, but SHE CAME BACK a few days later! One hen was gone almost a WEEK. In both instances, I think the hawk either took the hen and then dropped her and she hid, or she managed to get away somehow and hid in the brush and rocks in shock for a few days.

The one hen was gone about 6 days if I remember right, and the other hen was gone 3 days before she showed up again. The one that was gone almost a week was really beat up and was SO thirsty. I think he took her all the way to the woods before he dropped her. She was limping and acting dazed, just kind of wandering around with an empty expression. But she completley recovered, and got back to normal within a couple of weeks.

The 2nd hen that happened to also was roughed up pretty good, and seemed very jumpy and nervous. She was acting very agitated and trying to hide in corners and under stuff. That lasted maybe a week or so before she was back to normal.

In both instances, I went out one morning to do chores, and there was the missing hen, frazzled and half bald, crouched down in front of the chicken house door.

So please don't lose hope yet. Daisey just might come back. Hang in there!!

i lost my daisey yesterday to i think a hawk not for sure. all i know is there is a bunch of feathers and she is gone! i am heart broken i feel i have lost a member of my family. i only had the 3. rosey,daisey and petunia. now just my 2. i dont know what to do. i am thinking of getting a rooster for protection for them. should i do that. they free range when we are at home but we put them up when we are not. rosey and petunia just by themselves. seems like they need more. what do you all think? i am so hurt it is hard to watch the others without daisey. i will miss her deeply. i loved her so much. my girls are pets not just egg layers. i could care less about the eggs. i just love them.

 

[the3ofus+oursixchicks]

a friend of mine told me she might come back. thanks for sharing all this with me. it sure helps my feelings. i thought about just calling her name just to see. i sure hope she does! that would be a miracle from God. you better believe if she does it will be plastered all over BYC!

 

[Gargoyle]

I'm so sorry to hear this; we do all we can to protect them, and when something like this happens we feel we failed in our promise of providing safety.

Some people let up wood pallets on cinder blocks, that gives them a good place to run and hide when the hawks appear. However, with just two, there isn't time for one to sound the warning and both to run. Is there a way to string netting over the run?

Your two will be lonely and miss daisey for a while, try to comfort them and they'll be ok. When you get some new birds, read up on suggestions here for quarantine and introduction methods to make sure they don't bring in any disease and they all have time to acclimate to each other.

 

[the3ofus+oursixchicks]

thy were free ranging. their pen is completely closed in with chicken wire. yes i saw rosey hanging by herselff today while petunia was laying. i thought right then i will have to get a couple more so they wont be alone when the other is laying.

I'm so sorry to hear this; we do all we can to protect them, and when something like this happens we feel we failed in our promise of providing safety.

Some people let up wood pallets on cinder blocks, that gives them a good place to run and hide when the hawks appear. However, with just two, there isn't time for one to sound the warning and both to run. Is there a way to string netting over the run?

Your two will be lonely and miss daisey for a while, try to comfort them and they'll be ok. When you get some new birds, read up on suggestions here for quarantine and introduction methods to make sure they don't bring in any disease and they all have time to acclimate to each other.

 

[NoZolbitty]

I am sorry for your loss, losing a pet is almost as painful as losing a close family member or friend. In fact it probably is, depending the depth of relationship. as to replaceing Daisy don't do it right away give yourself time to mourn before getting another hen or rooster. The new flock member will never fill the hole "Daisy" left in your heart. it would be unfair to you and the new bird. the only thing that should go into that spot is your memories of Daisy. Talk about her bring up memories that make you smile, you'll be surprised how comforting that can be. Thank you higher power ( I don't dare assume on what you believe] for letting Daisy in your life
When you get a new chicken let it build it's own place in your heart, it will be better for both of you. There are new joys and day to day adventure with what ever you bring into the flock the new member. There are so many options when it is time. What breed do you want to try?, Wouldyou want to adopt a battery hen of bring a heritage or rare breed into your flock? Alot of those are good foragers and tend to be more predatore savy. I hope these words and ideas are helpful

 

[frogsnchickens]

I am so sorry. I truly know what you are going through. I have 8 chickens now. I started with 9 and a rooster. I catch some slack and laughter because I actually really like my chickens. I love gathering the eggs for our family and giving them to others. I love buying baby spinach leaves and watermelon and tomatoes for them, watching them get all excited when they see me coming with a bowl of goodies. Well, mr. rooster has always been fairly mean to everyone, but not as much to mean, he would ruffle feathers at me and crow but no big deal. To others, he would bow at them and ecspecially wait until they turned and then go after them, then he started doing that at me after I had to be gone for two or three days a few times. So we would have to carry a stick in for protection because of his very very large size and his aggressive nature. I had decided that for my niece and grandson's saftey I would sadly have to find him a new home. However, yesterday evening, two coyotes jumped the chicken yard fence. Mr. rooster absolute went into soldier mode, sent the hens flying into the coop, fighting the coyotes, who fought him over the fence into my baack yard and before i could get back out with my gun, they were gone and mr. rooster was lying on the ground not moving and barely breathing. There was absolutely nothing to be done. He had to be put out of his misery, my sister, thank God came rushing across the street and was able to do it for me. I honestly cried and cried. I do not care that it is "just" a rooster. It was my rooster, my pet and I care about my animals for more than just egg givers as well. I also have a whole new respect for why roosters act the way they do. I will absolutely get another rooster and we will just have to use caution and have respect for the job he does. If he had not been in there, I would not have as many chickens left, maybe none and I would really have been devistated. I hope that this will help your dilema in getting a rooster. And look into different breeds first, some are much more docile than others. I am learning as I go and just recently learned that some will watch the flock but are more docile to humans.