Devastated... Lost 7 of 13 chicks last night.

[Lilly16]

Thank you!
While I Have not gained joy from hearing about everybody's chick and chicken losses, it has made me question myself and ability to continue down this road less. I have already learned so much in this 3 week span and will continue to learn. Feeling more confident today.

Take heart. It is a learning process, always finding out new ways to make things better in agriculture. I am sorry for your shock and loss, it never feels good, even years on down the road, to lose animals that you are responsible for. I think it is particularly true for something as vulnerable as a chick.

 

[Jenniferlang61]

So sorry. It's tough and definitely emotional when things like this happen. My first experience with the loss of a chicken was a beautiful Plymouth Blue Rock named Penny. Heard the dogs barking and went out the back door just in time to see a huge redtail hawk launching out of the chicken yard. I tried for 10 days to doctor her but to no avail. Since then (two different occasions) I lost my two Jersey Giant hens to what we think were owl or possum attacks. Needless to say we are building a totally enclosured run for our new flock.
Each issue we encounter and work through makes us better "keepers of the flock"....... You will be a veteran in no time.

We have hawks in our area too and there is hope. You dont need to build a new enclosure. What worked best for us was we stretched colored masonry line over the top vertically in rows no larger than 2ft apart then horizontally the same way. The birds will see it and not try to swoop in because they just get badly entangled in the line.

 

[Fekay]

Wow, don’t blame yourself! Lesson learned. A traumatic event can cause health problems, the key is stress free environment, with clean fresh water all day, everyday and a quality feed, chicks will thrive in the right environment! Just keep a close eye on them all and take it a day at a time!

 

[Jenniferlang61]

We have hawks in our area too and there is hope. You dont need to build a new enclosure. What worked best for us was we stretched colored masonry line over the top vertically in rows no larger than 2ft apart then horizontally the same way. The birds will see it and not try to swoop in because they just get badly entangled in the line.

Well not vertically and horizontally my bad but east to west then north to south or whatever to make little squares

 

[Batwell]

I'm sorry this happened to you. No animal except mama hen herself (and even they should be monitored on hatch day) should ever be trusted with baby chickens. Especially dogs. Chicks do sleep a lot though. It is doubtful at this point in their lives they feel the loss of the others. You could probably get new ones and integrate them with your current babies. You can put a piece of scrap fence to divide the brooder for a day or two an let them get familiar with each other, but chicks grow fast so you should move quickly to get more. I keep a screen from an old window on top of my brooder and it is weighted down.

A neighbor of mine growing up had a collie who constantly dug, ripped, forced, her way out of her pen and into the chickens pen. She killed a lot of chickens. It took me a year before I felt safe enough that my doberman only wanted to eat the poop and not the chickens. Don't blame yourself, please. Chicks are both easy and yet hard to raise. Things happen. Now you are better prepared.

This is my first go around with chicks or any poultry for that matter. Long story short I trusted my dog too much and last night at 1:30am her curiosity got the best of my new and first flock. I received the 13 chicks at 24 hours old, I have spent the last 2 1/2 weeks, learning about raising chicks and learning MY chicks. Two different brooders, on Monday I built an outdoor "playpen", two with pasty butt the first week, needless to say I was very invested. I had a roll of three foot high hardware cloth that I would roll across the brooder at night but I used it for my chick playpen. My dog awoke from my sons room and went into the living room, where I have been keeping the brooder (a 110 gallon trough with all the bells and whistles), and within seconds she jumped in, I heard the commotion and flew out of bed and screamed at her and she jumped out, but in that 30-45 seconds 7 of my chicks died. I only had one Silkie who in the first day I thought was going to die, then she had pasty butt day three and four, but was starting to look strong and healthy, she didn't make it. I also had a red Bielefender, I believed him to be a rooster and he was my favorite of all time, he is gone also. I'm not sure why my first response is to come on here and tell you all my horrible experience. Just needing to vent maybe.
As I write I also have noticed my 5 remaining chicks seem to be sleeping a lot more today than usual. Can they feel the loss? Can this effect them?
I am also wondering if I should try to get some new chicks to replace my loss. Wondering if I should give my five remaining to some friends that have been looking for some and get a whole new set so they are all the same age. I have learned my lesson with my dog and understand she cannot be trusted with poultry. We have goats and she has no problem with them. And she has never had an issue with another dog, or people, or children. I have so many questions and feelings. I have guilt because deep down I know I let my birds down.

 

[Esthermshapiro]

We just lost one at 9 days old a few days ago. We feel your pain. We are brand new to this as of 16 days ago as well. We had 4, and our dog got to one of them. We were a mess, devastated like you. We buried her near where the coop will be so they will still be close and painted little grave markers for her. Forgiving ourselves was so important so that we could move forward with the other girls that are doing great. Tough learning curve for sure. I wish you the best.

 

[Batwell]

This is my first go around with chicks or any poultry for that matter. Long story short I trusted my dog too much and last night at 1:30am her curiosity got the best of my new and first flock. I received the 13 chicks at 24 hours old, I have spent the last 2 1/2 weeks, learning about raising chicks and learning MY chicks. Two different brooders, on Monday I built an outdoor "playpen", two with pasty butt the first week, needless to say I was very invested. I had a roll of three foot high hardware cloth that I would roll across the brooder at night but I used it for my chick playpen. My dog awoke from my sons room and went into the living room, where I have been keeping the brooder (a 110 gallon trough with all the bells and whistles), and within seconds she jumped in, I heard the commotion and flew out of bed and screamed at her and she jumped out, but in that 30-45 seconds 7 of my chicks died. I only had one Silkie who in the first day I thought was going to die, then she had pasty butt day three and four, but was starting to look strong and healthy, she didn't make it. I also had a red Bielefender, I believed him to be a rooster and he was my favorite of all time, he is gone also. I'm not sure why my first response is to come on here and tell you all my horrible experience. Just needing to vent maybe.
As I write I also have noticed my 5 remaining chicks seem to be sleeping a lot more today than usual. Can they feel the loss? Can this effect them?
I am also wondering if I should try to get some new chicks to replace my loss. Wondering if I should give my five remaining to some friends that have been looking for some and get a whole new set so they are all the same age. I have learned my lesson with my dog and understand she cannot be trusted with poultry. We have goats and she has no problem with them. And she has never had an issue with another dog, or people, or children. I have so many questions and feelings. I have guilt because deep down I know I let my birds down.

I am so sorry

 

[SurferchickinSB]

This is my first go around with chicks or any poultry for that matter. Long story short I trusted my dog too much and last night at 1:30am her curiosity got the best of my new and first flock. I received the 13 chicks at 24 hours old, I have spent the last 2 1/2 weeks, learning about raising chicks and learning MY chicks. Two different brooders, on Monday I built an outdoor "playpen", two with pasty butt the first week, needless to say I was very invested. I had a roll of three foot high hardware cloth that I would roll across the brooder at night but I used it for my chick playpen. My dog awoke from my sons room and went into the living room, where I have been keeping the brooder (a 110 gallon trough with all the bells and whistles), and within seconds she jumped in, I heard the commotion and flew out of bed and screamed at her and she jumped out, but in that 30-45 seconds 7 of my chicks died. I only had one Silkie who in the first day I thought was going to die, then she had pasty butt day three and four, but was starting to look strong and healthy, she didn't make it. I also had a red Bielefender, I believed him to be a rooster and he was my favorite of all time, he is gone also. I'm not sure why my first response is to come on here and tell you all my horrible experience. Just needing to vent maybe.
As I write I also have noticed my 5 remaining chicks seem to be sleeping a lot more today than usual. Can they feel the loss? Can this effect them?
I am also wondering if I should try to get some new chicks to replace my loss. Wondering if I should give my five remaining to some friends that have been looking for some and get a whole new set so they are all the same age. I have learned my lesson with my dog and understand she cannot be trusted with poultry. We have goats and she has no problem with them. And she has never had an issue with another dog, or people, or children. I have so many questions and feelings. I have guilt because deep down I know I let my birds down.

Well, I am sure she would have been OK with them once they are grown, little chicks just are so tiny My dogs are trustable once they are a little bit bigger, but sometimes a bigger dog cannot even see a little chick and they could even accidentally step on one and kill it in an instant, not even knowing it was there

 

[sevenlucky7s]

This is my first go around with chicks or any poultry for that matter. Long story short I trusted my dog too much and last night at 1:30am her curiosity got the best of my new and first flock. I received the 13 chicks at 24 hours old, I have spent the last 2 1/2 weeks, learning about raising chicks and learning MY chicks. Two different brooders, on Monday I built an outdoor "playpen", two with pasty butt the first week, needless to say I was very invested. I had a roll of three foot high hardware cloth that I would roll across the brooder at night but I used it for my chick playpen. My dog awoke from my sons room and went into the living room, where I have been keeping the brooder (a 110 gallon trough with all the bells and whistles), and within seconds she jumped in, I heard the commotion and flew out of bed and screamed at her and she jumped out, but in that 30-45 seconds 7 of my chicks died. I only had one Silkie who in the first day I thought was going to die, then she had pasty butt day three and four, but was starting to look strong and healthy, she didn't make it. I also had a red Bielefender, I believed him to be a rooster and he was my favorite of all time, he is gone also. I'm not sure why my first response is to come on here and tell you all my horrible experience. Just needing to vent maybe.
As I write I also have noticed my 5 remaining chicks seem to be sleeping a lot more today than usual. Can they feel the loss? Can this effect them?
I am also wondering if I should try to get some new chicks to replace my loss. Wondering if I should give my five remaining to some friends that have been looking for some and get a whole new set so they are all the same age. I have learned my lesson with my dog and understand she cannot be trusted with poultry. We have goats and she has no problem with them. And she has never had an issue with another dog, or people, or children. I have so many questions and feelings. I have guilt because deep down I know I let my birds down.

I am So sorry for your loss. I know It is truly heartbreaking.

 

[Chickin Out]

I'm really sorry about the whole thing. The remaining five are feeling stress from the attack. They need to sleep, have quiet and try to rally. If you have some electrolytes, put it in their water.