Chicken Dummy seeking Mentor

[LABElle1225]

Hello!!! I posted in the Into New section a fairly decent bio....
My husband and young child came home from TSC with 8 tiny feathered friends before Easter. Do to some events and my gut I’ve decided to reach out. I fear their set up and chicken raising program may need tweaking. So I’m getting involved...
Feel free to be critical and leave advice. I can take it.

June 20, 2018

1:55 pm
Rebel picked up a scent near the West tree line - where the bee hives are and took off. I call my husband to complain and call for the dog to return.
15-20 min later her returns.

June 21, 2018

Approx. 10 pm.
I let the dog out for last call to pee out the front door. I swear I hear a growl. I turn and look at Reb. He’s growling and something lowly growls back. I get us the heck outta dodge.

June 22, 2018.

12:48 pm.
All 8 chickens are out and about slightly under a bush watching the deer investigate their coop. I chuckled a bit, took a pic to send to my spouse, and continued cleaning the house.

3:35 pm
Mom calls. I take a break to let the dog outside thru the garage. I hear and see chickens as the dog chases them in the garage. The chickens have never been in the garage before but have been traveling farther from the coop daily. My main focus is to return the dog to the house and do not count or remember specifics regarding chickens. I finish call, crate the dog, attempt to salvage dinner, and address a kid situation.

5:08 pm
I give up on dinner and call husband to advise him chickens were in the garage. He’s pulling in the driveway. He sees one black and white chicken under the bush close to the coop. We investigate - they are never alone.
I do a quick scan of the yard - no chickens.
He sees a second black and white run to the other. They about jump into his arms.
I check the barn - a favorite hang it - one brown chicken who will not allow me near him.
My husband is now screaming and freaking out. He found a large amount of butter colored feathers on the west side of the house. No blood. No whitewash. No body.
I grab Rebel the Catahoula leopard cur. He and I have been working on “find friends” command - in case of chicken wandering. He is able to track down a brown one at the east tree line.
Husband screaming. Again. Found large pile of black and white feathers. No blood, no body, no whitewash.
I grab feathers, scent dog, and he follows a trail of feathers at the west grass/bush line. Follows it around to an area well beyond the barn.

7:45 pm
Rebel is full speed tearing thru woods, thorns, thickets, stream.... Catahoula’s are basically greyhound, Louisiana wolf, and Great Dane. My dog smells better than he sees, has double suspension run, and is track worthy fast. He has no issues catching mice, flies, chipmunks, opossums, mink, small deer, ground hogs.... This horrible predator got away from him.
Reb doubles back to a secluded area and lays down. He found one brown head and partial brown remains, and partial remains of the female butterscotch. They were neatly stacked. My son named the yellow female Butterscotch and she was the dogs friend.

I included a pic of Rebel “the dog who only loves chickens”.
I am extremely proud of him.

There is a photo of my son with the chickens as chicks. Yes they were under heat lamps in a bathroom as chicks. Yes, he was told not in a tub but gave the employee some info about said bathroom and was told it was ok. The bathroom is- 15x15, has a 2 panel casement window group, is a guest bath, has a large garden tub, was not used as a bathroom during their stay.

What did we do wrong? Range, warnings, location, etc. Are we safe? What’s can I do better? Do we adopt more chickens? Where is a good place to adopt a few chickens? Are we even fit to be chicken owners? Was this preventable? Is their any hope????

 

[bobbi-j]

I tried to read your post, but being tired and sleep deprived, I got lost. (It's a good post - details are good! It helps us to help you better. I just couldn't follow it all - will go back and reread after I am more rested.) So, what I got from it was, your chickens were out free ranging and something got two of them. Dog was able to find the carcasses.

Rule Number One when raising chickens: everything loves chicken. They are at the bottom of the food chain. When raising chickens, it's not a matter of if something is going to get them, but when. Free ranging increases the odds, but I just lost 9 myself that were in the coop.

Speaking of coops, yours looks pretty small to house 6 adult chickens. Yes, I know - it was advertised to do so, but those coops are notorious for overstating how many adult chickens can be comfortably housed. Minimum recommendations are 4 square feet of coop space per bird, and 10 square feet of run space. These are not hard and fast rules, and free ranging helps with the space thing, but it's a pretty good guideline. Your location can also make a difference. Where I live, the chickens spend a lot of time indoors in the winter. There is no way 6 or 8 chickens would be comfortable in a coop that size - especially after putting waterer and feeder inside. I'm not sure how big your run is, but it would work to enclose that, turn it into a coop, and add a larger run. I can't see what your run is made of, but if it's chicken wire you might want to consider changing that, too. Put hardware cloth over it. Chicken wire does nothing to keep predators out.

My chickens are brooded out in the coop. Until this year I have used a heat lamp. This year I used a heating pad system (aka the MHP or Mama Heating Pad). I loved it, and so did they!

I hope you and Rebel can catch and eradicate your predator before it takes more of your chickens.

 

[LABElle1225]

Rebel is well Rebel.... He’s 1 1/2 and has puppy moments.
We moved to this home 6 months ago. Prior we had a small privacy fenced subdivision lot. We’re on 10 acres that is NOT fenced. He’s on a 1 acre wireless shock collar.
Given his history of small/medium size game kills I was uneasy about leaving him alone with them. I’ve been very good about daily interaction between him and his “Friends”. He’s very indifferent towards all except Butterscotch. He’s definitely not himself today. It’s like he’s waiting for her to come up the path.

 

[LABElle1225]

Bummer, whatever it was, now knows they are there and will be back

Update: Neighbor stopped in- he lost 9 ducks yesterday to a cougar. It was caught on game camera.

 

[LABElle1225]

I tried to read your post, but being tired and sleep deprived, I got lost. (It's a good post - details are good! It helps us to help you better. I just couldn't follow it all - will go back and reread after I am more rested.) So, what I got from it was, your chickens were out free ranging and something got two of them. Dog was able to find the carcasses.

Rule Number One when raising chickens: everything loves chicken. They are at the bottom of the food chain. When raising chickens, it's not a matter of if something is going to get them, but when. Free ranging increases the odds, but I just lost 9 myself that were in the coop.

Speaking of coops, yours looks pretty small to house 6 adult chickens. Yes, I know - it was advertised to do so, but those coops are notorious for overstating how many adult chickens can be comfortably housed. Minimum recommendations are 4 square feet of coop space per bird, and 10 square feet of run space. These are not hard and fast rules, and free ranging helps with the space thing, but it's a pretty good guideline. Your location can also make a difference. Where I live, the chickens spend a lot of time indoors in the winter. There is no way 6 or 8 chickens would be comfortable in a coop that size - especially after putting waterer and feeder inside. I'm not sure how big your run is, but it would work to enclose that, turn it into a coop, and add a larger run. I can't see what your run is made of, but if it's chicken wire you might want to consider changing that, too. Put hardware cloth over it. Chicken wire does nothing to keep predators out.

My chickens are brooded out in the coop. Until this year I have used a heat lamp. This year I used a heating pad system (aka the MHP or Mama Heating Pad). I loved it, and so did they!

I hope you and Rebel can catch and eradicate your predator before it takes more of your chickens.

Thank you!!! I just showed my husband. He’s thinking we can convert some of the horse stalls and set up an enclosed run in front. It would be 79 ft long. Not sure on the stall size. Potential pop door vs using the full lower doors. The barn is heated; water; electric. We do not own horses. If he comes home with a horse in leaving LOL

 

[ATime&ASeason]

I sympathize! Near neighbors clear cut 200 acres last year, and everything that used to live there seemed to find a way to the backyard, where all seemed determined to dine on purebred chickens--the rarest, costliest first!
You can eliminate opossums--they eat the head and neck first. You said you thought you heard a growl--possibly a dog or dogs, particularly since you said the remains were stacked, think retrievers

 

[mountain chicken]

no matter if you live in the country or a rural neighborhood
up here in the mountains we have every predator you can imagine
this is why I built 2ft by 3ft by 16ft runners I have 6 of them helps keep them safe so far we had a bear visit every evening also a mountain lion. as long as I keep electric fence armed at nite every thing is safe

 

[bobbi-j]

I also have welded wire fence with chicken wire too.

I have welded wire, and bought chicken wire to put over it, just haven't gotten it done yet. I'm hoping it will keep the mink out. Those are my biggest problem at the moment.

 

[LABElle1225]

I have welded wire, and bought chicken wire to put over it, just haven't gotten it done yet. I'm hoping it will keep the mink out. Those are my biggest problem at the moment.

LoL I will send the dog.. Rebel removed 7 from here the first week. Haven’t seen any in 6 months.

 

[Hamiam]

Update: Neighbor stopped in- he lost 9 ducks yesterday to a cougar. It was caught on game camera.

OMG!