Thanks! We'll keep putting the traps out and see what we catch. I'm hoping to get rid of these things. We lost all but 3 of our 14 pullets we hatched this spring. (Not all to the critter attacks though.)
For about 8 months, we've been battling what we thought was a weasel. We found several of our younger chickens in the hen house dead with the back of their necks bitten and their entrails removed through a hole in their bottom, which from what I understand, is the MO of a weasel. We also would...
I have a hen who went lame about a month ago. She just suddenly could not walk on her left leg. I have checked her leg and foot, and can't see any breaks or other problems, but she won't put weight on that leg. I put her in our shed in a cage with food and water because the other chickens were...
Anyone have any idea what might be going on with my hen, Scarlett? She's just poofy, and doesn't seem to be feeling well. She was moved to a new pen this weekend, and since then, she's been looking like this. She's eating and drinking okay, but then just stands around all poofed up. She's one of...
I think our white silkie roosters, Zeus and Titan, staged a coup and ganged up on our black silkie rooster, Cesar. Cesar has always been the cock of the walk, the ruler of the roost, the terrorizer of everyone else in the coop. He's a like a little general (we should have named him Napoleon!) He...
Thanks. I went out today and found that the two other silkie chicks that our hen hatched off also have deformed feet. One of them isn't as bad, just some slightly turned in toes, but the other looks like these chicks' feet. I'm so disappointed! I think I know what happened though. We have a...
We have a silkie who was brooding for the first time with three eggs. A couple of times we checked, and she'd be off the eggs and they were cold. Well, this morning two of them hatched, but both of the chicks seem to have deformed legs and feet. They can't walk. Is this from her getting off the...
Our big red rooster recently died, and we were just heartbroken. So my daughter had the bright idea of hatching off some fertile eggs we had that had been in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks in the hopes of getting a rooster like him. (He was gorgeous!) Well, they were due to hatch on...
I posted about my sick rooster, but got no replies. Came home from picking up my granddaughter at school and checked on him and he was dead. Still not sure what happened to him. He suddenly couldn't walk, had foul smelling diarrhea, and was gasping for air.
Do you think it would be okay to...
He's still down today. He'll drink a bit of water (I added some apple cider vinegar to the water), but he won't eat. He's just lying there kind of breathing heavier than normal. Any ideas on what this could be? It came on so suddenly!
Our rooster, Red, was fine last night, but we got up this morning, and he can't walk. He's breathing hard, and has very smelly green stool. This just came on suddenly with no warning. Nothing has changed in the coop or chicken house, no new chickens or different feed or anything. Our chickens...
Earlier this year, I switched my homeowners insurance from Progressive to Liberty Mutual because the rates were cheaper. Now Liberty Mutual is cancelling my policy because I have 7 Silkie chickens and 6 regular chickens. (I didn't mention the 5 Silkie chicks in my bathroom.) What the heck?! Only...
We borrowed a couple of humane traps from a friend of mine and set them last night. And we caught the chicken-murdering thief! Though it's kind of like locking the barn door after the horse gets out. The damage is done. All 8 of our chickens are dead. (Stupid thing only even ate one of them...
We borrowed a couple of humane traps from a friend of mine and have them set tonight, using of our dead chickens that stupid coon killed last night as bait. We've lost 8 chickens in the past three days. That was all the outside ones. Luckily, we hadn't put the silkies out yet. They're going to...
Well, last night that raccoon came up on our porch and got our rooster, Mr. T, who is the last of our regular chickens. It was in a cage covered in chicken wire sitting right next to my daughter's bedroom window. We thought he would be safe. My daughter is upset because that was her pet. He...