6 wk chick old killed by dog.... so sad

[Delphinium]

It's a beautiful, sunny day here. My husband was putting the finishing touches on the coop and our 4 chicks were out enjoying the sunshine in the backyard. My husband and I went across the street to meet some new neighbors, leaving the chicks momentarily alone in our fenced backyard. While we were introducing ourselves to our new neighbors, my father-in-law came by to visit with his dog, opened the side gate to come into the backyard, and we heard him shout, "NO, BELLA". I knew instantly what happened and was just sick about it. We couldn't see my FIL/his dog from where we were talking with the neighbors, and I have no idea why he brought his dog and let her in the backyard today.

Our sweet little Black Star, Bosco, died almost right away. I'm glad she didn't suffer. She was a great little chick.... very sweet with our 5 year old daughters... we will miss her.


My daughters have already started asking about getting another chick. We wanted 4, and one of our remaining 3 could end up being a roo. I don't know how this works.... introducing a new chick to my small flock of 3 would be hard/unwise to do at this point, wouldn't it.

Thanks for any advice.

PS We'll be keeping the gate locked from now on.

 

[goldnchocolate]

I'm so sorry about Bosco

 

[theoldchick]

Very sorry for your loss.

 

[JROOSTER]

Im sorry for you loss.

If your chicks are still small it wont be hard to introduce more.

I think you should get at least 2 more just in case something like this happens again.

If it were me I would get 5 more 1 to replace the loss and 4 as backups!

 

[Ms~Silkie~Girl]

im sorry

 

[Delphinium]

Quote:
Our chicks are almost 6 weeks old... they are going to move from their brooder in the garage to the coop this weekend. I was thinking 6 weeks old might be too old to introduce a new chick. Has anyone done this successfully before?

 

[NurseELB]

You can put the new chicks in the brooder when the big chicks go out. Personally I would pick up a MINIMUM of 3 more, to reduce stress while they are brooding, and then you have the benefit of keeping the 2 you like, and re-homing a pullet if they all grow out this time.

I'm sorry that happened to y'all. 6 weeks is a long investment to me, I'd be devastated if one of my girls passed now, I can't imagine how hard it was on your girls. Sounds like they'll have fun picking out the new ones!

Good Luck!

 

[LovedMyAlydar]

Sorry to hear about that.

I don't think 6 weeks is too old. We have 3 hens who are 4 years old and we have successfully introduced 2 more chicks to the group. We did it slowly and let them get used to just seeing them out in the pen in the yard with the big girls. At first they were a bit spooked by the babies but now they have accepted them as part of the flock and keep an eye on them. When our dogs get too close the top hen goes after the dogs and calls the babies closer.

Good luck.