BBS Orpington Guy Among Gals?

[BabyandCotton]

I'm sorry for your loss, I know that feeling. My duck got all the feathers from her wings torn off, and my Drake was chased off by the SAME racoon.
-Liv

 

[clownychick]

ugh, stupid varmints. Big Dot had already had her tailfeathers chomped by a fox before the coon showed up! If I weren't allergic to dogs & cats, I'd for sure have something big & furry stationed outside!
E

 

[Alexandra33]

My heart breaks over your loss, @clownychick .

I'm so sorry. I know how it is, because an idiot raccoon snatched my sweet Silver Penciled Wyandotte bantam whom I had nursed out of wry neck as a chick. I found her remains in the loft, and I lost it.

~Alex

 

[clownychick]

<3 thanks, alex. BD and HP were the last of 'first' babies, who weren't even babies but rescues. my Ameracauna Big Brown I had to put down bc of shell gland malfunction, that was also sad but I knew at least she was out of pain - and then Cookie, an aracauna, was lost earlier this spring to a ^&%$ off-leash dog. I posted a politely scathing note on our town listserv about how my pets are just as precious to me as others, so keep your freakin dog on a leash if you're going to be walking down my road!!! (we live off a nice dirt road/wooded area that gets lots of walkers, cyclists, etc). all i can say is if my chicken ever killed a neighbor's dog, the uproar would be unbelievable - and I don't think a half-assed 'sorry here's $20 for a new chicken' would cut it
.

 

[TheChickInn29]

Aw thats sad. Hawks are the number one killer to my chickens! Too bad the hawks are a protected species! They'd be dead by now if they werent. They killed my favorite chicken named Buffy! She was a Buff Brahma with a very sweet personality. accidents also have killed my chickens in the past. My dad ran over one, then a gate fell on another one. Then MAGGOTS! Oh sick maggots. They have eaten 2 of my chickens ALIVE! Then peoples dogs....
I understand the frustration and anger when an off leashed dog gets in your yard and injures or kills your chickens.

 

[clownychick]

! don't even get me started on the hawks! there's a red tail and broadwing hawk that like to spar over the backyard, one has a nest right on the edge of the lawn/woods too... one or both have definitely made attempts on my flock, a couple successful ones early on before I wised up to which predator it was.

and UGH - maggots??

oy... I mean, I'm raising BSF larvae to feed my ladies, so I'm kinda used to wriggly things, but the idea of them eating a chicken LIVE.. ! what a horrible thing!

aw, I like the name Buffy. poor sweet girl. too bad she wasn't a hawk slayer!

-- the Brahma roo I had was named 'Brahms' (I used to joke that we just needed a Beethoven to go with the Bocks!)

 

[TheChickInn29]

Yes! You could see the maggots crawling under their skin!!

they were everywhere! In her back, on her butt, her thighs there was hundreds! I picked them out with tweezers and bathed my chicken to drown them out. She died the next morning but ive had TWO chickens die from this!! The first one got it and my dad continuously tried to wash them out, and after several attempts, the chicken was weak and wet...and still crawling with them. He then decided it would be best to put her down, so, he did.

Hawks terrorize my neighborhood. Everyone has 5 acres here so having chickens seems to be a must. Almost everyone here has lost a chicken or more to hawks. Ive lost 4 chickens to hawks and several failed attacks. Coyotes occasionaly come around and have attacked my chickens, but my sister amd I have ran out there just in time.

I like that name...Brahms

 

[clownychick]

Yes! You could see the maggots crawling under their skin!!

they were everywhere! In her back, on her butt, her thighs there was hundreds! I picked them out with tweezers and bathed my chicken to drown them out. She died the next morning

but ive had TWO chickens die from this!! The first one got it and my dad continuously tried to wash them out, and after several attempts, the chicken was weak and wet...and still crawling with them. He then decided it would be best to put her down, so, he did.

Hawks terrorize my neighborhood. Everyone has 5 acres here so having chickens seems to be a must. Almost everyone here has lost a chicken or more to hawks. Ive lost 4 chickens to hawks and several failed attacks. Coyotes occasionaly come around and have attacked my chickens, but my sister amd I have ran out there just in time.

I like that name...Brahms

omg, i'm so grossed out and i can't even stop asking about it - did she have a wound or something that got infected?? ugh, just UGH!!!
BD and HP both had a super nasty case of lice - and HP had scaly leg mites to boost, I'd been dunking both of them in tea tree oil baths before i finally took them to the vet for ivermectin (and then the raccoon...didn't even get a chance to use all the doses, but i suppose i can just keep it in the fridge? ticks me off to think that &^$ raccoon got a free deworming!)
13 wooded acres here, it's pretty much the jungle outside...

 

[clownychick]

ughhh...i had to google...flystrike! i knew about other parasites, but this... it makes me want to go bleach the coop first thing tomorrow morning just in case!!!!

 

[TheChickInn29]

No neither one of the hens had wounds! I dont know how it happened! Just one day they were fine, the next day they were lethargic. I picked them up, then, they smelt like rotting flesh! I looked at her butt and blood was dripping off of her. I opened up her feathers...and just about had a heart attack! It was so gross! They were EVERYWHERE! All over her body! My only guess is maybe there was poop on her butt and flies got attracted and layed eggs there? I just dont know. So now we wash chicken butts when they get dirty! I still have nightmares about it!

and it was one of my favorite hens at that time too...