Audrey Condon
Hatching
- Jul 21, 2017
- 1
- 0
- 2
Help! Since Spring 2015 we've had 8 bantam chickens and 2 ducks. A few months back, we lost a rooster, and it looked like an animal had gotten it. We knew it was life, and accepted it.
But now, in the past week, we've lost three chickens, a rooster and two hens. The first hen we found halfway under the wall of our coop, so my guess is that she either got stuck there (she tended to lay there instead of our nesting boxes), or our ducks got to it, because our ducks have been quite vicious lately. This was Tuesday.
Then, Wednesday, as I was outside, I noticed our ducks cornering one of our roosters and attacking it, and I ran to help. They got the rooster stuck in between the wire wall of the chicken yard. I carefully helped him out, and I could tell that it would have been dead in minutes if I hadn't helped. I took it inside to aid, and it couldn't stand or walk on its own. After several minutes of help, he was walking again.
In order to protect our chickens, we sectioned our ducks off in the yard by creating a mini wire fence. We were all set.
Then Thursday, that same rooster was missing. We found a bundle of feathers outside the yard, just like how we found our rooster that went missing months back. Again, I blamed the ducks, because the feathers were somehow outside the duck area. I concluded the ducks cornered it again, got it stuck, and allowing for an animal to come and get it.
Today, we find another dead chicken. A hen. I almost blamed it on the ducks, but realized there was no way the ducks could have killed her. She was just laying dead in the coop, not stuck or anything. Is it some sort of disease? Did an animal come and kill this one chicken and leave it? I'm stumped. I'm down to four chickens and I'm super upset! I don't want any other chickens to die.
My apologies if my explanation is a bit hard to understand, but I just really need some help before I lose any other chickens. Anything is appreciated!
But now, in the past week, we've lost three chickens, a rooster and two hens. The first hen we found halfway under the wall of our coop, so my guess is that she either got stuck there (she tended to lay there instead of our nesting boxes), or our ducks got to it, because our ducks have been quite vicious lately. This was Tuesday.
Then, Wednesday, as I was outside, I noticed our ducks cornering one of our roosters and attacking it, and I ran to help. They got the rooster stuck in between the wire wall of the chicken yard. I carefully helped him out, and I could tell that it would have been dead in minutes if I hadn't helped. I took it inside to aid, and it couldn't stand or walk on its own. After several minutes of help, he was walking again.
In order to protect our chickens, we sectioned our ducks off in the yard by creating a mini wire fence. We were all set.
Then Thursday, that same rooster was missing. We found a bundle of feathers outside the yard, just like how we found our rooster that went missing months back. Again, I blamed the ducks, because the feathers were somehow outside the duck area. I concluded the ducks cornered it again, got it stuck, and allowing for an animal to come and get it.
Today, we find another dead chicken. A hen. I almost blamed it on the ducks, but realized there was no way the ducks could have killed her. She was just laying dead in the coop, not stuck or anything. Is it some sort of disease? Did an animal come and kill this one chicken and leave it? I'm stumped. I'm down to four chickens and I'm super upset! I don't want any other chickens to die.
My apologies if my explanation is a bit hard to understand, but I just really need some help before I lose any other chickens. Anything is appreciated!
Predators are nasty.....double check your coop for any holes larger than an inch and secure them.
