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

[Chapman Family]

ly get over it they are a bit scared, traumatized and depressed. They will most likely becom

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.

Thank you! My 5 remaining are doing great. 4 weeks as of yesterday. I have discovered for sure one Rooster, he is trying to crow. Is it quit amazing. Also I believe he will end up being a Splash Maran, which I am understanding are the unicorns. If I am correct I m pretty excited.

 

[Chapman Family]

So sorry for your loss! I know how devastating loss of baby chicks is...
Happy to hear 5 are doing ok.

I see this was posted about a week ago, how are they doing now? Did you end up adding more chicks?

Yes thank you! My 5 remaining are doing great. 4 week old as of yesterday. I have the Marans left. 2 appear to be the blue (it is looking like one pullet and one cockerel, but I am not certain), 2 the black, and I am about 80% sure I have a Splash Maran cockerel. I have read the Splash is rare, so I am excited to see how it ends up.

 

[Chapman Family]

So sorry for the loss!!! Keep the babies that survived! We are a couple years into this and still learning every day. Our brooder box was enclosed and we did keep it protected from our boxer and cats. Now everyone is a happy family and my boxer helps me clean the coop and herd the girls (gently).

Thank you,
I really do hope my dog comes around with the chickens, and while I am not so mad at her I have lost all trust in her regarding the chicks for now.

 

[MamaGer8ty]

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[Chapman Family]

I'm new here...haven't even introduced myself yet, I've mostly been getting to know the community (and I love it so far!) That said, I am so very sorry for your loss. I had my first devastating moment about 2 weeks ago, when one of my small flock of 5 got attacked by one or more of the 4 other girls. They tore the back of her head open really bad. I felt AWFUL. I managed to save her and patch her up, but like you, I felt like a terrible chicken mama. It's all a huge learning process. Please don't beat yourself up too badly. Your dog was just doing what dogs do, and now you know to be as overprotective as humanly possible to prevent any future incidents. Chalk it up to a lesson learned, ok? I wish you the best of luck with your remaining babies. You've come to a great place for advice and support from what I've seen so far. I guess now I should go introduce myself properly, lol. I look forward to seeing you around the page!

Thank you so much! Yes I have been so pleasantly surprised by being a member of this community!! Definitely lessons learned! Will see you around, best of luck with your continued success!

 

[Chapman Family]

So many words of wisdom offered to you in the previous posts - all true! It's the worst when you can't protect the helpless.

Years ago, I lost a couple hens and my rooster to an unknown predator and the remaining hens were so traumatized and depressed they went into a molt and moped around, barely leaving their coop. I replaced the rooster and it took a couple weeks for them to accept each other but they did perk up after that.

Also, my dogs are fine with my free range chickens and geese, but a friend gave me 6 half-grown ducklings last year and they murdered them all on the 3rd day I had them. I was heart broken and never suspected the dogs would react like that.

Hi! Just wanted to let you know that chickens do feel sad over the death of their coup mates, especially if they were young together. They will eventually get over it they are a bit scared, traumatized and depressed. They will most likely become very skittish as they grow up due to such a traumatizing experience at such a young age. As for the pasty butt it's probably due to the flakes they are staying in. Make sure you NEVER get small flakes and always use large pine chips or straw. As for the dog being friendly to goats and other dogs it's really just about size and genetics. Dogs are genetically trained to go for small animals and she may not even be aggressive to them as adults. My dogs were sort of sketchy around my baby duck but fine with the adults. Just make sure you an eye on the dog.
Once I had a duck killed by a raccoon and a chicken that was always hanging out with her (I think they were good friends) died shortly after. I hope some of this helped, definitely do some research about pasty butt if it isn't the bedding.

Thank you! The pasty butt was cleared up by the time of the midnight massacre. I am thinking it was just due to stress from moving into a few different environments in a few days.
My remaining 5 are now doing well! I have hopes that my dog will adjust and as my chick grow there will be less of a problem but for now I am hyper vigilant.

 

[Chapman Family]

Don't feel bad....From now on, take your dog to the chicks and watch him carefully....When he goes near them let him know you do not approved by saying whatever command you have taught him for NO. He will learn real quick to not bother them ....We have around 100 Chickens, some roosters and 3 dogs. and NO PROBLEM.

Thank you! Yes I have trying to do this.

 

[Chapman Family]

That is so sad, I also lost one of our 32 chicks. First loss...it hurt so bad.

Your situation was an accident, who would think your dog would decide to jump inside. Don't feel guilty, not your fault.

I would keep your existing remaining babies and get more that are about the same age.

Best of luck and sorry for your loss.

I have decided to keep my 5 remaining and they are doing well. I am on a waitlist to get a few more.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I don't understand why people like that didn't have the dog destroyed?

I hear stuff like this a lot. (re: the collie)

Oh, but such and such is a good dog, or a good person despite numerous crimes...

If someone or in this case the dog has a lot of crimes its not a good dog. Sometimes I hear it about people when the person is too emotionally attached to make good decisions.

Sorry just venting. Today also I had to go over with a family member about not trusting a person that had taken advantage of them several times and they still wouldn't get it.

It is not the dog's fault. They are going off of instinct. It is our responsibility to restrain our dogs, and they shouldn't have to pay with their lives if their owners make mistakes.

 

[Chapman Family]

Very sorry to hear of this happening to you. Our jerk of a dog somehow made it through a fence and then chewed through enough of the (in hindsight) woefully insufficient plastic chicken mesh we had around our makeshift chick run to get the youngest chicks used to the outdoors and he killed one of them. We have been working on desensitization with him since and trying to convince him that they are friends and not food.

Yes we have continued to work with the dog but I do not trust her alone with them at all. I has been quite the job to make sure the dog and chicks are separated and confined correctly. When the chicks are outdoors the dog is indoors and vice versa. Cant wait until it all calms down.