- Jun 8, 2012
- 17
- 0
- 24
I am finding many of these threads very helpful and comforting. I wanted to raise a few chickens for the eggs (city girl going country here) and then got three and got attached to them and thought I had a good coop, but a racoon ate them in a rather heartless way... It broke my heart and I didn't want to do it again.
But I moved to a larger house/yard next door and there was a lone surviving rooster here that stayed and so I told him I would get him a girlfriend and I did. They were in love at first sight and got along great. But she was a broody hen and he was sad when she sat on her 13 eggs when spring came, and since some of those eggs were laid in 20 degree weather, I really didn't think but about three stood a chance, but all 13 hatched! She was such a good mother and attached to the shed and so I just put chicken wire over the front of it and it worked for a couple of weeks. (I do have cats and they can resist only so much of little fast moving objects that smell nice to them.) Then as the little babies (I was such a proud "Mama") got bigger, they investigated around more and found escape holes and long story short, I had about six left.
So knowing they needed to learn the ropes as free range chickens here, I moved them to a fenced garden area and loosely covered the top with plastic chicken wire that was around to ward off the hawks. The little youngsters were just starting to roost on low sticks and were so cute! And then one morning there were none, something slipped in and there was not a trace of the babies, but mama who had obviously tried to defend them in a fight of fury with something had lost a number of her feathers.
Again I was sooo sad, but the rooster was so glad to have her company back and can you stop the forces of nature? Well, she started laying again and then after about laying a dozen more, she started setting on them and he was lonely. So I drove a distance and bought two more hens. One was bigger (about the size of the rooster) and one was a small banty like the one I had.
Shockingly to me, the rooster freaked over the large hen and killed her! I was so mad! So I penned in the setting one with the one I had bought since they had clipped her wings - something I wish they had not done! They need to be able to fly up to roost and to flee predators! I wanted them to acclimate to each other. It was going okay for a couple of days and then this morning I noticed it was awfully quiet when I woke up.
I went to feed them and feathers were everywhere. It was obviously a racoon because one was in chewed parts in the water and the other's remains were in a tree! I have no clue how that varmit even got in the coop I had set up because I had really worked it, but it did and I lost both of my sweet ladies. You get so attached to them so quickly! They talk to you in their funny little noises and halfway seem to understand what you are saying to them.
Now my rooster is alone again and I realize the only way to have a fool proof coop is to spend some serious money on it. I had a lot of scraps I worked as I am not on the upper end economically and I am an unexperienced girl with not a lot of strength, and felt that my design should have worked! But obviously, this is a science. You know you can spend hundreds of dollars on a coop or go buy fresh organic eggs for a lot less, but these little creatures are fun to have around! I spoiled them feeding them in the morning and giving them treats or more in the evening. I would walk by my kitchen door and see them sitting there waiting for it on schedule and if I didn't see them, I would hear them! I could almost tell time by them. They were so funny.
The first one's eggs got cold and it's day 8 or so and so I put them on a heating pad, but I don't know if it's doing any good or not. Can you candle a beating heart?, I have to figure all this out. Obviously I don't have an incubator. I'm not sure I should even mess with at all, and mostly because of the emotions and expense of it, but it would be nice to have a legacy of my lost hen. But I am here on this wonderful website to get answers and I see a lot of people similar to me with their own similar challenges and tender love for their chicken's gentle natures. And by now this has become a challenge to me, as a matter of principle of the matter! I /we will survive!!!
So this former city girl is learning a lot, and realizing that toughen up is the name of the game after tears. They have lots of enemies in this semi country environment with the woods nearby, racoons, skunks, groundhogs, (did I say racoons?.....), possums, and I was told weasels and snakes. Even hawks, and my cats, and the neighbor's dogs. I was told that getting my own dog would help, but I really didn't want another large pet. But they seem to play a big role for gardens and chickens if they will leave the chickens alone and not be an enemy too.
So a good coop is definitely needed. Thanks for all the information you offer and for letting me find such great people who understand how the emotions and affection goes, too. You are all appreciated!
But I moved to a larger house/yard next door and there was a lone surviving rooster here that stayed and so I told him I would get him a girlfriend and I did. They were in love at first sight and got along great. But she was a broody hen and he was sad when she sat on her 13 eggs when spring came, and since some of those eggs were laid in 20 degree weather, I really didn't think but about three stood a chance, but all 13 hatched! She was such a good mother and attached to the shed and so I just put chicken wire over the front of it and it worked for a couple of weeks. (I do have cats and they can resist only so much of little fast moving objects that smell nice to them.) Then as the little babies (I was such a proud "Mama") got bigger, they investigated around more and found escape holes and long story short, I had about six left.
So knowing they needed to learn the ropes as free range chickens here, I moved them to a fenced garden area and loosely covered the top with plastic chicken wire that was around to ward off the hawks. The little youngsters were just starting to roost on low sticks and were so cute! And then one morning there were none, something slipped in and there was not a trace of the babies, but mama who had obviously tried to defend them in a fight of fury with something had lost a number of her feathers.
Again I was sooo sad, but the rooster was so glad to have her company back and can you stop the forces of nature? Well, she started laying again and then after about laying a dozen more, she started setting on them and he was lonely. So I drove a distance and bought two more hens. One was bigger (about the size of the rooster) and one was a small banty like the one I had.
Shockingly to me, the rooster freaked over the large hen and killed her! I was so mad! So I penned in the setting one with the one I had bought since they had clipped her wings - something I wish they had not done! They need to be able to fly up to roost and to flee predators! I wanted them to acclimate to each other. It was going okay for a couple of days and then this morning I noticed it was awfully quiet when I woke up.
I went to feed them and feathers were everywhere. It was obviously a racoon because one was in chewed parts in the water and the other's remains were in a tree! I have no clue how that varmit even got in the coop I had set up because I had really worked it, but it did and I lost both of my sweet ladies. You get so attached to them so quickly! They talk to you in their funny little noises and halfway seem to understand what you are saying to them.
Now my rooster is alone again and I realize the only way to have a fool proof coop is to spend some serious money on it. I had a lot of scraps I worked as I am not on the upper end economically and I am an unexperienced girl with not a lot of strength, and felt that my design should have worked! But obviously, this is a science. You know you can spend hundreds of dollars on a coop or go buy fresh organic eggs for a lot less, but these little creatures are fun to have around! I spoiled them feeding them in the morning and giving them treats or more in the evening. I would walk by my kitchen door and see them sitting there waiting for it on schedule and if I didn't see them, I would hear them! I could almost tell time by them. They were so funny.
The first one's eggs got cold and it's day 8 or so and so I put them on a heating pad, but I don't know if it's doing any good or not. Can you candle a beating heart?, I have to figure all this out. Obviously I don't have an incubator. I'm not sure I should even mess with at all, and mostly because of the emotions and expense of it, but it would be nice to have a legacy of my lost hen. But I am here on this wonderful website to get answers and I see a lot of people similar to me with their own similar challenges and tender love for their chicken's gentle natures. And by now this has become a challenge to me, as a matter of principle of the matter! I /we will survive!!!
So this former city girl is learning a lot, and realizing that toughen up is the name of the game after tears. They have lots of enemies in this semi country environment with the woods nearby, racoons, skunks, groundhogs, (did I say racoons?.....), possums, and I was told weasels and snakes. Even hawks, and my cats, and the neighbor's dogs. I was told that getting my own dog would help, but I really didn't want another large pet. But they seem to play a big role for gardens and chickens if they will leave the chickens alone and not be an enemy too.
So a good coop is definitely needed. Thanks for all the information you offer and for letting me find such great people who understand how the emotions and affection goes, too. You are all appreciated!
