DEVASTATED. Lessons in newbie chicken-keeping UPDATE on P.3

[DrakeMaiden]

I'm sorry to hear about what happened.

You guys need some visible sign that the chickens have been locked up. Like a "Do not disturb" doorknob sign on your front door that you can put up after you lock the chickens up, so you can see it and know the chickens are fine . . . or see it isn't up and go lock them up.

That sort of thing happens, especially when the routine hasn't been ingrained for YEARS! I'm just sorry you had to pay the price.

 

[arlee453]

I wonder if it wasn't a dog too - having fun grabbing the chickens but only took off with a few of the many it killed.

I'm sorry to hear about your chickens - it's so easy to forget to shut the gate...

 

[Solace]

Back when I lived with my parents we had a skunk come in and do that. It kept coming back night after night until we finally got lucky and trapped it.

You may be able to find someone local to you by posting a Wanted on Craigslist.

 

[smith2]

I agree on the dog. Wild or stray dogs will often just bite through the body and leave them to die. Or once the prey stops struggling, the dog loses interest and goes after another one. Dogs don't kill to eat them, it is more for sport. It really sounds like a dog to me.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
No--our dogs are kept in the house and away from the chickens at all times--they don't even get to go outside at all during the hours that the chickens are free-ranging. BUT, we have caught three wandering dogs on the *other* side of our perimeter fence with a motion-sensor game-cam. We'll be setting up the game-cam again (we used it earlier to figure out where to set raccoon traps) right by the chicken yard tonight, and I just hope the guilty culprits come back. There's no leash-law out here, but there ARE laws with some bite in them that allow you to recoup monetary damages for livestock killed by dogs belonging to other people.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Yeah--I was thinking of something along the lines of those "dirty/clean" magnets that you put on your dishwasher! Or the flag on your mailbox. I'm sure we won't be forgetting again anytime soon, with this horror fresh on our minds, but yes, a system needs to be put in place.

My husband felt so bad, and so sorry for me, that he already (without telling me) ordered 25 more Buff Orps from MMH. It's not what I would have done, but he did it out of kindness. I REALLY want some "better" chickens now, from breeders instead of hatcheries, but I guess there's time for that.

 

[ruth]

Locking up the birds at night probably ought to be just one person's responsibility unless they ask the other person to do it. In our case, everything chicken/duck is my responsibility. Last night I asked my husband to get the last of them in and locked up because I was busy but I still went out later and checked to be sure. He's the type that would lock the back door and leave the front one wide open. It's just too easy to make a mistake if both are responsible cause like you said, you're each thinking the other person did it.

Again so sorry. Don't beat yourself up - many people have lost chickens at night that were locked up in Fort Knox and predators still find a way in.

Glad to hear hubby had ordered more chicks. Mine did the same thing when our dog killed six of my ducks - hubby went out the next morning and bought 9 more from feed store - same as you, not what I would have done but he felt bad and wanted to replace them. That's why I said a dog was probably responsible - that's how our dog killed them - not a mark on them -just chased them down and killed them and left them - in a matter of a minute while we were out there playing with them and turned our back.

It happens to us all.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Good point. I already do that about the horses--unless I specifically ASK him to feed them at night, and see him do it, I assume it hasn't been done, and take care of it myself.

It HAS to have been dogs, especially those three that run together--it's two Weimaraners and a yellow lab mix--because all those beautiful birds were just lying there dead, no signs of trauma. I'm especially sick that they got Alex's favorite rooster.

I should really be enjoying the cute little turkey poults that came today, but I'm just sitting there looking at them, thinking about the same thing happening to them...ugh.

 

[Fowl-Language]

Oh, I'm so sorry about your gang -

 

[momma's chickens]

I can totally understand how that happened. I am so SORRY that you lost your babies. It is devasting. My dh and I have this same problem. Last night, as a matter of fact, my 13 year old went out at 10:30 to lock them up.

to you!