Arizona Chickens

[roostereggs]

I am SO sad. Went out to the coop this morning and found 2 of my FAVORITE 12 week pullets laying dead on the ground...a CCL with blood on her neck and a BCM with no blood. It looked like a pillow exploded in the coop. And on my street is a disemboweled wild rabbit.

Just talked to dh and he said he saw our INDOOR cat outside last night. (We have a dog door). There is a tiny hole at the bottom of the fence big enough for a large rat to get in...that is the only possible way I could think that she got in. I did some interior decorating when I cleaned the coop yesterday, so it must have opened up access in that spot because there was a chain link enclosure up against it previously but I was only thinking about coyotes as a risk.

I read about this so much on these forums, but nothing can prepare you for the first time it happens. I was prepared to give away a bunch of the cockerels next month...why couldn't it have been THEM???

 

[rockmissjess]

I am SO sad. Went out to the coop this morning and found 2 of my FAVORITE 12 week pullets laying dead on the ground...a CCL with blood on her neck and a BCM with no blood. It looked like a pillow exploded in the coop. And on my street is a disemboweled wild rabbit.

Just talked to dh and he said he saw our INDOOR cat outside last night. (We have a dog door). There is a tiny hole at the bottom of the fence big enough for a large rat to get in...that is the only possible way I could think that she got in. I did some interior decorating when I cleaned the coop yesterday, so it must have opened up access in that spot because there was a chain link enclosure up against it previously but I was only thinking about coyotes as a risk.

I read about this so much on these forums, but nothing can prepare you for the first time it happens. I was prepared to give away a bunch of the cockerels next month...why couldn't it have been THEM???

Im sorry for your loss.. but at the same time u made me laugh.. love ur outlook on the cockrels! .... im super scared to loose any of my hens to anything out there (especially scared of coyotes) i get my first chicks shipped monday.. and i cant tell you how scared i am that something will happen to them when i put them outside when they are big enough

 

[SunBaked]

So sorry you lost your girls

Why is it always our favorites?? I swear when I still had chickens if I started to like one more than the others it was like a death sentence....

 

[LindaMurphy]

Sorry for your loss. I have experienced the same kind of situation only our issue is coyotes. I bought 2 BOs and one got it's head caught in the fence and strangled itself. The second one was a beautiful gold hen that had just laid it's first egg. It was eaten by a coyote the very same day. It is heartbreaking and it is never the ones you don't care for. It always seems to be the favorite. I just keep learning as I go and keep trying new ways to keep them safe. We just built a big coop that they will be safe in when we go somewhere. It has plenty of room for the days they can not free range. My dog has been very valuable. He knows his job and the chickens are very comfortable around him. They even sleep in his bed sometimes. Once the chickens go in for the night the dog knows he can come in but he still likes to sleep outside under the trailer.

 

[Vickiinaz]

Sorry for your loss. We have lost many to coyotes and hawks. Coyotes have come I even when we are with them. Finally gave up and restrict them to a very large run that has wire over the top to keep the hawks out.

 

[MandyFitch]

So sorry to hear about your favorites! I think maybe our favorites are killed due to exactly what makes them our favorites - they're curious and unafraid, so they're the first to get hurt. The ones you can never get close to are more suspicious and less like to be caught unawares...

My silly little silkie will surely be the first to go. She's blinded by all those feathers and so easy to catch. One day a hawk will grab her and she'll never know what hit her.

I did get some good news today! My Blue Copper Marans laid a gorgeous dark reddish brown egg. She will be 27 weeks tomorrow. So now four out of six hens are laying! Waiting very impatiently for a blue egg from my lavender Ameraucauna. Although her face is quite pink under the feathers, she has no comb or waddle to really judge...

 

[NRML]

No idea where to find my original post but awhile back I wrote about a big cat getting into our yard and killing our poultry. I was concerned it was a mountain lion and had found mountain lion tracks in the wilderness across the street and next to the covered turkey kill.





[4" across mt lion tracks near kill and in wash that I had posted before]



[4" wide mountain lion track I found across the street in wash]



I found more mountain lion tracks out in the desert but none in my yard. I then left one of my roosters out of the coop during the night and cleared a perfect spot to get some prints of the animal...along with a game camera. At about 4am one of my dogs suddenly jumped up, looked out the front window, and growled...about a minute later I heard the rooster squack once...then silence. I didn't run out as I had no idea what type of cat was out there. In the am, I investigated the scene and although there were no photos on game camera, there were tracks left in the yard...and they were 2" across instead of 4" across like the mountain lion prints in desert---I then knew I was dealing with a bobcat! Whew...poor lion in desert who was minding his/her own business was getting blamed for what a bobcat was doing!




[The chicken killer--print in yard 2" across...bobcat track! Leg hold traps were then put in place!]


We set out traps and caught probably the biggest bobcat I have seen!!! He got out of the leg hold trap though and ran off...hasn't been seen since, thankfully! Goes to show there are mountain lions around us but in this case at least, they are not the ones causing trouble!








[HUGE tom bobcat! Not nearly as big as a lion but over 5' stretched like he was]

Sorry I didn't update sooner...knew it'd be a long post and have been busy with school!

 

[MandyFitch]

Poor rooster...

 

[NRML]

It is sad for an animal to die but he was going to be processed anyway and death by bobcat is as fast as any. He lived a good life roaming free til the end...better life than most chickens (not to mention roosters) live.

 

[Twinklin]

I'm so jealous of people's watering systems. I just have a large dish bucket that in the summer gets frozen water bottles and a spot in the shade. I have unsuccessfully tried building a nipple waterer a few times. I don't know what I do wrong but the joint glue never stays with the weight of the water in it. I'm not very familiar with ways to glue pvc but I have used a combo primer and water proof pvc cement and let it dry 2 days but as soon as I hang it and turn the hose on to fill it it bends at the joint and breaks. I think perhaps I use too large of a PVC pipe. I may purchase one of the premade cooler/nipple combos like the BriteTap one. http://www.chickenwaterer.com/BriteTap-Automatic-Chicken-Waterer-p/bt100.htm