Side note: we hatched these chicks ourselves so they were not vaccinated against marek's disease, but they've been kept isolated from our older birds who of course have no symptoms. I don't know how prevalent or contagious the disease can be.
I have a five week old chicken that seems to be having issues walking without wobbling. Her legs shake when she walks and she keeps falling onto her side or butt. She has a super long stride and picks her feet up much higher than normal to walk. It just started this morning and I've never seen...
Well we have tried that in the past but our vet doesn't know much about chickens and has suggested putting them down everytime we bring one in. Only one actually died of her illness, and all the others survived with home remedies/surgery, so I'm not sure if he'll be of any help.
We have a hen that has been a bit of a loner since we got her about a month ago. However, in the last week she not only spends most of her time away from the flock, but she stands there and seems pretty unresponsive. She's lost a lot of weight and has no interest in food. She does drink lots of...
I have one rooster and two hens that have recently become extremely depressed. They don't eat hardly at all, they don't want to get out of their cage in the mornings, and when they do, they just lay in the barn or on the porch all day. I know it's because just last week we lost the main hen of...
Wow I didn't even think of a pig, but that's a good guess. I know we have bears, and I've read that very few florida Panthers have been documented this far north but there have been a few cases of some as far up as Georgia. Right now, I'm assuming a few stray dogs...
Huh I didn't even think of a badger, but I've seen them around our place. There's no holes in the roof buy maybe they could get through the hardware cloth?
Yes, we are definitely gonna put traps and a camera up. I've reinforced the remaining coop pretty well, but electric fencing would also be a good idea...
That's what I've heard. We had that happen once with chicken wire, but they haven't been able to reach through the mesh, or slash a hole in it this big.
Wow that's terrible! I'm so sorry! Ironically, I found two stray huskies wandering around our coops on the same night this happened, but I brought them inside before feeding the chickens that night and they stayed with me, so I know it wasn't them.
Yeah, I'd be surprised if a raccoon could get through the predator wire though. It's the strong metal stuff with the really small squares. We had one get through chicken wire before, so we switched and haven't had a problem until now. We also leave cat food out for things like opossums and...
Are those the same as bobcats? I know we have both around here, but I heard that they generally carry their prey off and the chickens are missing without evidence. Of course it's a possibility though. I wish we had had a camera out just to see what it was.
I've never seen any bears around here, but our house is on the edge of a huge hunting preserve and I know our neighbors have seen them before. The hole looks a bit small for a bear, but I don't know, maybe a small black bear could've fit.
There was a pretty large hole in both the coops. I don't think a bear would've fit, but I suppose a small one might've been able to. I'll post some pics tomorrow. It's definetly possible that a large dog or cat (like a bobcat or a Florida panther) could've fit though. I don't think we have...
Yeah, I was thinking it could be a couple large dogs, but our house is pretty far out and I know all the neighbors dogs. They've been around the chickens and haven't been able to get in to the coops. It's definitely a possibility though.