Oh that's only part of the bad time I've had with my birds. In July I went on vacation to Kentucky and left my SIL to care for my birds. Our hottest week of the year and never came and watered or fed the birds, came home to over 500 dead along with my first Foley cock. Then 2 days before Xmas a mink got in and killed another of my Foley cocks and all but 5 pullets/hen(left me with 5 pullets I had bought last year and one hen from year before) that I replaced the first lost with 2 more along with my WW, SFH, Light Brahmas, SS, Blue Swede Hen and a SS F1 Hen. Then in February a coyote got in and killed all my Blue Swedes I had restocked with, 4 SFH cocks and a hen, my last BLR cock. I now have Toulouse, Embden and a Canadian Hybrid geese in my big run to help deter predators. I also purchased some Iowa Blue poultry to help fend off predators as they are bred for that purpose. After that the dang d'uccle hen, she went down the road to sons boss's moms farm as I was going to put her on the chopping block if she didn't go somewhere. She also killed some of my Cream Crested Legbar chicks along with the BLR chicks I had been growing. Never seen a hen so mean in all my time of raising poultry. I bought back 2 BLR roos from my last years hatch but am not happy with their color. One has very good type I like but color and lacing is off. I'm breeding them now to see what happens until this lonely little cockerel grows enough to find out if he will work for breeding. If not I will once again purchase some other cockerels as I feel right now I'm happy with the hens I have. They have their faults, but they are a good start. Now if I can just keep the predators at bay. The whole predator issue started a year ago this weekend(Memorial Day) when my kids and other relatives kids went down to the river with out dog and he wandered in the neighbors yard on the way thru and on the way back the guy shot him 3 times. Just got out of court 2 weeks ago and the creap was only given a $50 D/C fine, $67 in victim witness fees and $1000 in restitution. I was appauled as I was told the charges would of been different. He even had the gaul to smirk at me when he walked by when court got out. I never even met or seen him prior to this day. Since my dog was shot I've had over $5k in bird losses and replacements and think it was crap. Seriously thinking of taking him to court in small claims for damages done due to the vet bills, loss of my dog as he was here to protect my flock and such. We had to put him down in October as one of the bullets hit his pancreas which caused him to go blind and become diabetic and also had so much liver damage it would no longer function. It was so sad.
Oh my, you have had more than your fair share of tragedy. I really do hope that your future is brighter. Your pullets btw are lovely"
