Dealing with Loss of 1st Chicken

[Fintechie]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I too lost one of leghorns to a pair of bob cats in my backyard. (Luckily,) I didn't see when it happened. I only saw one of the bob cats stalking my flock who ran close to the house already. I jumped into the icy water and it backed off, and only then I saw another bob cat waiting in the far end of the yard - It must've had my poor leghorn already. They didn't leave a trace, but came back again the same day. Days later, we found a spot on top of fence with blood stain and 2-3 feathers... My animal advocate friend consoled me that predators usually make a quick kill.
Now and then, I light a bon fire in the far end of my yard, hoping the smoke and fire will drive those predators further. It's a preserve outside. So their world really.

 

[chrsis d]

Just lost two to a weasel last week. Shot the weasel as it was in the coop trying to eat my other ones, and had no fear of me being in there. Shoot the bobcat (if you can and are able to) put some electric fencing around the coop, and use hardware cloth as suggested. My dad uses electric fencing for horses around his as they have bears around and it seems to have

worked well so far. Chickens are pretty helpless unfortunately and can be very tough to lose. Your husband had the right idea, sometimes it's harder to see them suffer like that. I had a couple with Mereks one egg bound and tried and tried to save them and it did not work out.

Sorry for your loss but reinforcing the coop is the best idea. I used to let mine roam around the yard but I lost a lot, all it takes is not paying attention for a bit and the predators take them.

Hope you are successful at protecting the rest of them and again, sorry you lost one, Im sure she knew she was loved

 

[Fintechie]

had no fear of me being in ther

They don't. I had a racoon coming a couple of times during the day. When we drove it off, it just climbed up a big tree and then stared at us. The standoff lasted several minutes, finally it decided to back off by climbing down the tree then out of the fence. Luckily, it came for chicken feed only...

 

[deidreg]

We're here for you @furandfeatheredmomma7. All of have had, or will have, similar experiences. You're not crazy, you have a big, wonderful heart.

Be well.

 

[DouglasB]

Hi everyone, I am a bit new to this and to be honest, am doing this out of clear desperation to not feel so alone and crazy in my thoughts at the moment. Night we just lost one of our 5 chickens who was severely injured from a bobcat attack sometime early yesterday morning. The site was devastating. Not only where it happened around their coup but her injuries were so severe that my husband wanted to put her down out of compassion but me, being the fighter I am-told him I wanted to do everything we could to clean her wounds (the skin on her neck and her tail feathers from stripped clean off and her right wing was hanging by a thread). I thought maybe she could survive with one wing (i have read countless threads on here about taking care of injured chickens so I wanted to give it our best shot) and that it we could take care of her etc. After the entire day being filled with an amatuer type surgery, I was able to feed her with a syringe and tried to make her as comfortable as possible. After 12 hours of checking in on her...finally before I was heading to bed, I saw her take her last breath and go peacefully.
I did not handle the situation so peacefully and completely broke down. She was a sweet girl, the tiniest one we had and had a wonderful personality. In the midst of my tears I woke my husband up so we could bury her in our backyard because...well...my heart is too big and I just cannot help but feel guilty, horrible and broken. Did I mention that we have another chicken who got injured too? No? Ok, so our girl Lemmy is currently recovering from a torn neck (which we closed and cleaned) and her one wing is sprained. She is inside a carrier and is doing well-missing her sisters. So, all in all-we have reinforced their coup even more and have metal plates surrounding the entire coup as the bobcats chased them around and grabbed them through the metal fencing.

Sorry this is so long...I don't know how to explain these feelings of loss for something I never owned before last April. I never thought chickens would make my life just a bit better and that my family and I would be so attached..but we are. I feel guilty for not keeping them safe. My little girl deserved so much better.

I can only hope that our feathered girls live a life full of love so when their time does come they know they were loved. That is what I am trying to hold onto right now...just that thought...that she knew we loved her and I held her when she left.

sorry for your loss.

 

[ILoveDaffy]

I lost my first and tiniest chicken, too, and broke down the whole week, and could not go back outside for a week. It broke my heart to bury her in my backyard too. You are not alone.

 

[schmedlap]

I'm so sorry for your loss! Yes, chickens worm their way right into the heart and stay there.

Here's what I suggest you do as a way to work through grief while further improving the remaining hens' situation.

Order some hardware cloth. Amazon is by far the best deal. Search: "hardware cloth 1/2 inch 19 gauge" to see what fits your situation the best. It comes in 24", 36", 48" heights. There is cheaper stuff, which is 23 gauge - so make sure it's 19 gauge.

Then go wire-tie it to the existing fencing so the bobcats can't reach through any more. I would even consider (depending on how big of an enclosure) doing it on the inside AND the outside so there's a double layer with your original fence as the middle of the hardware cloth sandwich.

Hardware cloth has a secondary benefit, other than being tough to punch through - it messes with vision, especially at night.

Then I would look into putting some electric fence barrier around the coop and run- and make sure it zaps a good 8000 volts. You'll get better results with strands of wire or polywire than with the "electric mesh" stuff- too hard to keep tight.

add one of those $20 solar spot lights. they're motion activated and really bright. Amazon has them too. it'll help scare the critters away

 

[ChichiMama]

Sorry for your loss. You may want to consider hot wire around your pen and coop. The bobcat will be back, and hotwire is a great mammalian deterrent. Good luck in keeping your flock protected.

What’s hot wire?? I’ve never heard of it...

 

[getaclue]

Hot wire = electric fence.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[ChichiMama]

I am so sorry... your post made me cry xo
We had a raccoon problem. I’m a new chicken owner since April also.. we had some original chickens, then added 6 gorgeous fluffy baby Silkies. A raccoon actually opened the window of the coop with its thumbs- and one by one- a raccoon went in & took a chicken out... it was horrible... feathers everywhere. I was so disgusted by this beautiful new coop, I let it sit- finally I cleaned it, saged it lol ... we have like coop cams lol... I’m so so sorry...