Completely Devestated

[NC29mom]

I have gone on and on about how great & wonderful my Golden Laced Sebright Bantams are.................only to find out THEY are the PREDATOR killing my chicks.

Found a BR and BO dead this AM. Pecked to death. Yet to find my other BR chick. And have a BO and RIR in serious condition. Have already lost 2BO and 2BTW jap bantams. My 2 BTW japs were a few months old. Woke up one AM and they were gone....disappeared. Looked everywhere.....never found. Now, I'm beginning to realize........it was my sebrights.

My sebrights roam the yard by day. Theres a pen they were raised in that they sometimes fly into, which has an entrance to the barn where they can roost. In fact, the way we have it set up, there are 3 separate pens with 3 separate entrances into the barn with 3 separate roosting areas. I guess I was wrong to assume my chicks would be ok. Now I know.

All AM I have just cried and cried. I just can't believe my sebrights would kill my chicks. And, I'm not talking about day old chicks......the BTW japs were a few months old.....the other chicks were 3-4 weeks old.

I have already found a home for the Sebrights. They have to go. Not just because they have pecked these chicks to death.....but because I think they are actually eating the chicks. How do you explain chicks just gone....into thin air? They aren"t big enough to fly out of the pen....there's no possible way they could fly out. The only other feasible explaination is the sebrights ate them. Tonight when they are roosting, I will catch them and set them in a box for pick-up tomorrow. I have 1 juv roo, 1 juv hen and 5 adult hens. These are birds I raised from chicks. Birds who will fly up on my shoulder regularly. Birds who flock to me when I go outside. I had so much love and affection for them..........had being the key word. I also took all of the sebright eggs out of the incubator. I can't stand the sight of a sebright again.....

Sorry to ramble.....I'm just devestated.....completely and utterly distraught.......

 

[ailurophile23]

So sorry to hear about your troubles!

 

[dbounds10]

wow - so sorry to hear about your loss and stressfull situation. I guess its possible they are eating the chicks but I had no idea something like that could happen.

 

[sourland]

I have no idea how large these chicks are, but I seriously doubt that the Sebrights are the culprits eating the chicks. You mention several disappearing on the same day--not possible unless you have a dozen carnivorous sebrights. They could not eat the legs, bones, skulls. You have a predator.

 

[Nicole01]

It's not just seabrites, it's all older chicks(6 weeks and older) to adults that will kill baby chicks. That is why it is so important to integrate properly. It takes about 3 weeks or so before they are use to each other. Integrate when everyone is about the same size(at least 12 weeks old). Your seabrites are being your normal average chickens. I'm so sorry you lost some babies. I've learned you can not just throw chickens together no matter what age, they must be introduced slowly. Good luck.

 

[This_chicks_place]

Quote:
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First let me say I'm sorry for your loss. That said, I don't think it's your chickens. Got to be a predator

 

[A.T. Hagan]

Seabrights cannot disappear a two month old Jap bantam. Peck it to death perhaps, but not consume it entirely. You have a predator of another sort.

As for the other birds if they are still very young chicks then you should keep them separated from the larger mature birds otherwise they are very likely to be injured.

 

[melroseladi]

I am sorry about your loss.

My guinea hen had hatched out 12 keets on her last go round. She threw one lavender which I was so excited about and was planning on keeping and raising. I was concerned about the keets being around my 2 males but never thought to be concerned about my other hen, until I heard mama yelling and as I ran over to the pen I could see that my second hen had a keet in it's mouth. All I could see were the legs and feet. By the time I got into the pen the keet was gone and of course it was my lavender. I was so traumatized by what I saw I was going to get rid of all of them but I then realized that it was up to me to keep them safe even from each other. I learned a lot by that experience and am a lot more prepared for the next keets that hatch out.

 

[NC29mom]

My sebrights ONLY COME INTO THE PEN AT NIGHT......just to roost. It's a small area, but the sebrights roost up high on the roosting posts. the chicks stay on the floor in a nesting box. If it's a predator....how is it getting in? We have a tent over the top with just enough room for the sebrights themselves to fly over. The killing happened DURING THE NIGHT. This is a completely enclosed area.

I wondered the same....how could my sebrights EAT an entire chick??? But I can't find anything.....no chick...no feathers..nothing....and there's another coop right beside this one with 15 BTW jap chicks (2 months old) in it. They have never been bothered. Another thing is we have a young pheasant, probably 3 months old..that roosts on the top of the tent every night. Why wouldn't the predator kill it? Why go INSIDE my coop and kill my chicks? Also...remember....I found 2 who were already dead (pecked to death). So...just a coincedence there were missing, dead & pecked chicks all in the same night? If it was a predator...why wouldn't there just be dead chicks??

And I understand about the intergrating thing. The Sebrights roam the yard all day. They only come in at dusk...only to roost. It's not like they are all confined to the same pen all day. I've never, ever had any problem intergrating chicks before. And normally, my sebrights have been very accepting and nice to the chicks.

I suspect the Sebright clan simply because they were the only ones with the chicks. I could be wrong. BUT...I know they are the ones who pecked my chicks (that I was able to find) to death. I have also been noticing lately they have become a lot more aggressive for whatever reason. I had 4 roos, but got rid of 3 thinking it would help with the aggression. It hasn't. They run this yard. My poor standard roo is scared to death of them. And, I have a crippled BTW jap roo they irritate on a regular basis. I refuse to keep my crippled roo caged up just because the sebrights have gotten so mean. Maybe it's just a phase.....don't know....but they gotta go...

It's not just this incidence.........this is just the one that "broke the camels back"

Thanks for all your condolences....

 

[CandiceN]

That is so sad! I'm sorry you had to give away some of your favorite birds, that can't be easy. Beautiful birds!