I have had chickens for almost a year now, and have had so many die on me, that I've lost count! I have a nice coop and run that is the right size, I clean the coop weekly and the waterer daily, I keep a close eye on all the birds, but I am tired of them getting sick and dying or just plain showing up dead one morning. I don't understand what I am doing wrong!
This morning, my impacted crop hen that I had done surgury on was dead in her cage. Then I come home from work and find that a loose dog had killed 2 of my guineas, one of which was my only female and was probably very close to laying her first egg!! Now I have to find some more keets and start all over, and wait another year before I have any fertile guinea eggs. It is so frustrating.
There is always a chicken sick in the house that I'm trying desperately to save, and 9 times out of 10, that chicken dies anyway.
Some days I just want to give it all up. It can just be too heart breaking to lose hen after hen that you have named and come to know and even had eggs from. I find myself trying not to come too attached to the chickens since from history I know I'm going to lose some. I want to have a closed flock, but how do you get there, when it takes so long to get hens to laying age without dying and then to get those chicks to laying age without dying. Out of all the chicks I've hatched, I only have one that is just now getting old enough to lay.
Thanks for reading, if you got this far. I just feel very sad and frustrated tonight.
This morning, my impacted crop hen that I had done surgury on was dead in her cage. Then I come home from work and find that a loose dog had killed 2 of my guineas, one of which was my only female and was probably very close to laying her first egg!! Now I have to find some more keets and start all over, and wait another year before I have any fertile guinea eggs. It is so frustrating.
There is always a chicken sick in the house that I'm trying desperately to save, and 9 times out of 10, that chicken dies anyway.
Some days I just want to give it all up. It can just be too heart breaking to lose hen after hen that you have named and come to know and even had eggs from. I find myself trying not to come too attached to the chickens since from history I know I'm going to lose some. I want to have a closed flock, but how do you get there, when it takes so long to get hens to laying age without dying and then to get those chicks to laying age without dying. Out of all the chicks I've hatched, I only have one that is just now getting old enough to lay.
Thanks for reading, if you got this far. I just feel very sad and frustrated tonight.