All my chickens are gone...

[cmom]

I get mixed up a lot. Maybe it comes with age???

 

[Chickassan]

Depends on how much age, over 40 i'd say yes.
Seems like late 30's into early 40's it got worse at least that has been my experience.
50', 60's and beyond should be a hoot.

I get mixed up a lot. Maybe it comes with age???

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

So my DH decided he would buy me a "chicken coop" last spring from traxmctor supply and put it together for me. During putting it together I thought to myself " it's a very piss poor excuse of a oop because this material is worthless" , but I didnt complain , i was grateful and just fallowed his lead like a good HW is supposed to do. This year in about November somehow half my flock just had died pretty much and was already separated from my silkies. I had 2 silkies which were a pair and 1 other silkie .. idk how but my silkie rooster died which left the two (now laying) hens I also had another rooster and hen in a different coop. The silkies were in the "cheap coop" and the others in a modified hay keeper modified for chickens. I have no idea what but something ATE my silkies..nothing left but feathers . They broke through the wire netting and 2 months later my other two were gobbled by dogs that dug under my coop. How do I have or train a dog to be good guard dogs for my chicken and protect them? I have to start all over after all the investing from last year. It's so expensive but I want a new flock and to do something better and different to protect them. Help!

I'm sorry about the chickens. What kind of predator has the capability to wipe out all your chickens?? This I a catastrophe...

 

[cmom]

Depends on how much age, over 40 i'd say yes.
Seems like late 30's into early 40's it got worse at least that has been my experience.
50', 60's and beyond should be a hoot.

I'm in my 70's.

 

[Chickassan]

You are in the hoot years!

I'm in my 70's.

 

[hayley3]

I'm in my 70's.

I'm not far behind you.

 

[cmom]

My brain still thinks I'm 30 but my body disagrees. I am definitely more forgetful.

 

[Sweeethearts_2002]

I'm sorry for your loss. In 1 weekend I lost 5 of 7. It happens to all of us. On my replacement flock now with just 1 old hen left that stopped laying.

How many did you lose at first? At least predators you can find and prevent or dispatch of. Did they free range or always in coop/run?

I'm sorry for your loss. In 1 weekend I lost 5 of 7. It happens to all of us. On my replacement flock now with just 1 old hen left that stopped laying.

How many did you lose at first? At least predators you can find and prevent or dispatch of. Did they free range or always in coop/run?

We lost so many chickens I can't remember. I nearly forgot about this page until I recently re-found it. Hehe we ended up getting a new coop a retriever dog kennel with a roof snd a solid structure and replacing our entire flock. We now have over a year of successful chickens and a re now incubating and raising babies ourselves! We've come a long way.

 

[Sweeethearts_2002]

Sounds to me like you are at a crossroads........It's decision time.

Now that you have a year of tending birds under your belt.......is keeping chickens something you really want to continue with? If that is a yes, then how many?

After that, it's doing the research into a type and size of coop and setup that will fit your situation and the amount of birds you want to keep. Do the research and build first......and then when you have that ready to go, start shopping for chicks to fill it.

Keep in mind.......for the most part, it is far and away better to build or have built the type of coop you want. Most of the small commercial made coops are horrible........motivation of the folks making them is as a product to sell as much as a product offering functional use. Folks selling them are often as uninformed as the folks buying them.

We finally have decided on all of those things and are successfully raising chickens over a year. We're even collecting eggs and I don't mean a few more like between 40 and 50 eggs a week. (Not sure on the count but it's a lot) we're solid and secure and have a great structure we plan to expand in the near future.

 

[Sweeethearts_2002]

Sorry for your loss!

letting us know your general location will be helpful. I’m in western Ohio, so I have different things to be concerned about as compared to other climates, for example.

what resources do you have to create a coop and run? Access to free/low cost building supplies or have any ability to build or modify a shed (or a friend/relative)? Are you limited to certain number of chickens (in or out of town)? Cost limitations? Etc.

Dont get rid of the small pre-built bc they are handy to have for isolation or in the run for introduction periods or even for momma hen/chicks.

You are so right about the crappy coop lol. We have remedied all the issue from before if you'd like to read some previous responses and you'll have answers to some of your questions. We are in North Central Texas. People around here don't give away anything worth a dern. It's hard to come by decent reclaimed stuff, but when we do we use it. We got 2 guinea fowl last summer and this year are adding 4 new keets to the clan. When we have brand new birds they climate controll brood for 2 to 3 weeks or until they get feathers, then they go outside to another brooder with a lamp etc and stay in the bigger brooder for a couple more weeks then onto the little crappy coop to learn to go in and out of the hen house, nest in boxes and to roost and eat and drink from bigger drinkers and feeders . Once they're established there we then move them into the official coop. We also have added 2 rare heritage breed turkeys this year and we're incubating eggs also. So exciting!