We had been having a wonderful spring, and one of my BOs was going broody (we had a lovely BO roo, too). We let the girls/roo out to range as usual around 8 AM, and DH came home at 1 PM to find 9/13 dead, including the roo. It had rained heavily, so there were no clear tracks, but NINE dead at one time seemed to indicate dogs. The killings took place in 3 related areas--chicken house, edge of woods, and dirt pile where they played. We knew, living in the country and free ranging, we would lose some chickens to predators, especially in the daytime (they sleep in locked up house at night). But this was a bit much.
The remaining 4 girls (1 is wounded, but is responding to antibiotics and regular cleansing of the wound) are locked up in the chicken tractor, which is well fortified. We'll have to move them back and forth from there to the chicken house (close) now. I won't free range again. We'll eventually get a protected chicken yard for them.
I ordered some more chicks, but it's not the same as the ridiculously tame laying hens coming to greet me every day. And needless to say, our 10 per day egg farm is now down to about 2 a day. I'll also have to worry about getting a smaller cage/coop to integrate them with the remaining 4 girls (Like Ruth advised).
Just heartbroken over this.
Dee in GA
The remaining 4 girls (1 is wounded, but is responding to antibiotics and regular cleansing of the wound) are locked up in the chicken tractor, which is well fortified. We'll have to move them back and forth from there to the chicken house (close) now. I won't free range again. We'll eventually get a protected chicken yard for them.
I ordered some more chicks, but it's not the same as the ridiculously tame laying hens coming to greet me every day. And needless to say, our 10 per day egg farm is now down to about 2 a day. I'll also have to worry about getting a smaller cage/coop to integrate them with the remaining 4 girls (Like Ruth advised).
Just heartbroken over this.
Dee in GA
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