Persony Person
Chirping
- Mar 21, 2020
- 31
- 28
- 81
A few years ago I posted a thread called "The Stupid Heads!" on this forum showing off my families flock to the world. Many in that thread have since died of various means (natural causes, illness, (drowning in one case) etc.). However the lineage lived on, Fatty had 3 chicks (9b,9c and 9d(who since passed away)), we introduced 3 Warrens (of which one also passed away) and several more of the originals (6,7,8,8b and 8d) were still alive up until yesterday, making a total flock of 9. 7 hens, 2 cockerels.
That was all put to an end today as a fox wiped them out. The back garden was a graveyard with some gruesome scenes of which I will obviously not share details about. We had 5 confirmed bodies with a further 3 missing who have either somehow flown over a 2m stone wall and hid in a neighbour's garden somewhere staying quiet or are presumed dead with the fox taking them away.
However, at least one, Stupid Head 7, managed to survive by hiding in an empty compost bin that had it's bottom lid open. She obviously had an engagement with the fox because her right leg was bleeding (but not severely) and she lost many of her back/rear feathers. She must have hid whilst the fox focused on all her siblings and cousins.
We have attended to her immediate needs, but the problem is we don't know what to do now. Me and my parents had been debating what to do for hours. Stupid Head 7 is at an advanced age, being least 6-7 years old. We don't think rehoming her will be good for her (My Dad in particular also doesn't want to go through the stress of organising it as he has many other things on his plate at the moment), it's unlikely many will accept her given her age (We live in the UK). We thought about, but ended up against introducing new chickens to keep her company in her remaining years because 1. that would be irresponsible after a mass fox attack and 2. we cannot guarantee that this will not happen again in the distant future. My parents themselves are getting advanced in age as well as having physical disabilities and I don't have the mental fortitude to provide potential new chickens with the full duty of care and security that they thoroughly deserve. Which means we're left with the option of continuing to take care of her as we were before (though with obvious security precautions and a renewed ban on access to the back garden), but as a lone chicken. We know how bad this is for chickens, and she is clearly already depressed and miserable after watching her entire family she's known all her life get killed as well as having a near death experience of her own, but we don't know what else to do.
What I think is certain though is that our time of Chicken keeping is coming to an end, but what a truly awful way to go out.
That was all put to an end today as a fox wiped them out. The back garden was a graveyard with some gruesome scenes of which I will obviously not share details about. We had 5 confirmed bodies with a further 3 missing who have either somehow flown over a 2m stone wall and hid in a neighbour's garden somewhere staying quiet or are presumed dead with the fox taking them away.
However, at least one, Stupid Head 7, managed to survive by hiding in an empty compost bin that had it's bottom lid open. She obviously had an engagement with the fox because her right leg was bleeding (but not severely) and she lost many of her back/rear feathers. She must have hid whilst the fox focused on all her siblings and cousins.
We have attended to her immediate needs, but the problem is we don't know what to do now. Me and my parents had been debating what to do for hours. Stupid Head 7 is at an advanced age, being least 6-7 years old. We don't think rehoming her will be good for her (My Dad in particular also doesn't want to go through the stress of organising it as he has many other things on his plate at the moment), it's unlikely many will accept her given her age (We live in the UK). We thought about, but ended up against introducing new chickens to keep her company in her remaining years because 1. that would be irresponsible after a mass fox attack and 2. we cannot guarantee that this will not happen again in the distant future. My parents themselves are getting advanced in age as well as having physical disabilities and I don't have the mental fortitude to provide potential new chickens with the full duty of care and security that they thoroughly deserve. Which means we're left with the option of continuing to take care of her as we were before (though with obvious security precautions and a renewed ban on access to the back garden), but as a lone chicken. We know how bad this is for chickens, and she is clearly already depressed and miserable after watching her entire family she's known all her life get killed as well as having a near death experience of her own, but we don't know what else to do.
What I think is certain though is that our time of Chicken keeping is coming to an end, but what a truly awful way to go out.
