Trock925
In the Brooder
- Aug 1, 2018
- 16
- 35
- 49
I just started my backyard flock this past July so I'm still pretty new to poultry keeping. 4 days ago 2 of my neighbors dogs broke into my chicken coop and killed some of our hens. We had 7 total, 3 were found dead in our yard, 1 is missing (I'm assuming it's dead too), one died the night of the attack from injuries and another one died this morning, maybe from shock. Now we only have 1 girl left. The hens would have been 6 months old the end of this month.
This morning our silkie died and I'm not sure what happened to her. After the attack we checked over the remaining birds. The silkie and buckeye seemed to come out of the situation physically okay, but the buckeye was missing quite a few tail feathers. Both had been walking around the coop the past few days eating and drinking.
When I spent time with the birds this morning I noticed the silkie had a lot of poop stuck to her back feathers and she was moving around slowly. I was concerned by this and decided I should give her a bath to clean her up. I delayed doing this to get some other things done in the house first and an hour later I heard my daughter sobbing because her silkie was now dead too. The poor silkie was laying dead in the coop on her side. I think she developed sour crop or something because there was a pus like substance come out of her mouth and on the ground where she had been laying. Can someone tell me what I could/should have done differently? I feel terrible and feel like I've failed my birds.
Now the buckeye is all by herself in the coop. I dont know what to do for her. Since the silkie died this morning, she is now acting strange. She's standing still with one eye closed. Occasionally she closes both. She also keeps standing on just one foot. It doesn't seem she's favoring one, but keeps going back and forth between standing just on the right or just the left. I dont know if its shock or something else. Still eating and drinking and she went into the coop like usual. I put a heat lamp in the coop to help warm her since she's by herself now. Out of all the girls, the buckeye is the most standoffish and resists being touched. Instead of causing her more stress by trying to catch her and bring her inside, I left her in the coop.
Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated! My flock has been devastated by the attack. Should I immediately bring new birds in? We were thinking of ordering some started pullets from a hatchery. It's just so sad to see only 1 bird in the coop.
This morning our silkie died and I'm not sure what happened to her. After the attack we checked over the remaining birds. The silkie and buckeye seemed to come out of the situation physically okay, but the buckeye was missing quite a few tail feathers. Both had been walking around the coop the past few days eating and drinking.
When I spent time with the birds this morning I noticed the silkie had a lot of poop stuck to her back feathers and she was moving around slowly. I was concerned by this and decided I should give her a bath to clean her up. I delayed doing this to get some other things done in the house first and an hour later I heard my daughter sobbing because her silkie was now dead too. The poor silkie was laying dead in the coop on her side. I think she developed sour crop or something because there was a pus like substance come out of her mouth and on the ground where she had been laying. Can someone tell me what I could/should have done differently? I feel terrible and feel like I've failed my birds.
Now the buckeye is all by herself in the coop. I dont know what to do for her. Since the silkie died this morning, she is now acting strange. She's standing still with one eye closed. Occasionally she closes both. She also keeps standing on just one foot. It doesn't seem she's favoring one, but keeps going back and forth between standing just on the right or just the left. I dont know if its shock or something else. Still eating and drinking and she went into the coop like usual. I put a heat lamp in the coop to help warm her since she's by herself now. Out of all the girls, the buckeye is the most standoffish and resists being touched. Instead of causing her more stress by trying to catch her and bring her inside, I left her in the coop.
Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated! My flock has been devastated by the attack. Should I immediately bring new birds in? We were thinking of ordering some started pullets from a hatchery. It's just so sad to see only 1 bird in the coop.