Fluffy Butt Acres: Stories of our flock

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Meatbird's fluff
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ChicoryBlue said:
I kind of want to die. Queenie was killed today, we think by a hawk. Butters may have been the first target but she escaped with a couple of big tufts of hackle feathers out of her neck. A hawk, we think THE hawk, came back and flew down towards the body, while I was gone digging a grave for Queenie, DH saw it and chased it away.

We were home, out and about, and they were out in their yard. There was no sound that we heard, and it happened around the corner of the house just out of sight while we were moving the big wire run over to their yard to set it up there. We suddenly noticed we didn't see any chickens around, I went looking, only finding Queenie's body and seeing no others. Whatever it was had eaten some of her. But she was warm still, and limp except for her legs. Eventually one Buckeye came out of the coop box. The four had run into the coop tractor and up into the roosting enclosure, Butters far into the nest box. I need to check her body again but I found no blood, and she let me handle all of her except her neck area was very tender.

I am so sorry. I feel I got Queenie killed. And she is particularly dear to me. I have tried to let them be chickeny and also have been putting into place safety measures to try to minimize risk, which I knew there was - I accept that to some degree but I feel particularly guilty about putting the electric fencing not up to the back house deck. Peanut had tried to run under there before and encountered the fence. I had thought about doing that, but it would be in the way of gas deliveries and DH didn't want them hanging out on the deck and pooping on it. I think Queenie, who had also run to the house when there was a previous attack in this same area - another reason to not have widened the fence area to include this spot! - and she had run that way when this hawk came I think, and of course couldn't get past the net. There were fluff feathers there. She fought back though and made it halfway back towards the coop where she either died because of her injuries sustained already, or was overtaken again. I think Butters was attacked first and then Queenie, which makes her inability to escape due to what I did with the fencing, denying her the house which she probably had time to run to, really hard.

There aren't enough emojiis in the world :hit
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:hugs
There aren't enough words either.
 
Ribh said:
No I didn't. I know almost nothing about prolapse except it sometimes happens, often to production layers. :( I figured that's what it was. The vet said they use sugar to shrink it before trying to put it all back. She hadn't been pecked, thank heavens! But she was a real mess, especially where I hadn't looked. I just bundled her up & got the 1st boat I could off the island. I'm not the super practical scientific sort & this stuff is totally beyond me. I wasn't even going to try. When they examined her there was a massive blood clot hidden by the prolapse, exposed blood vessels & she was haemorrhaging. They did say they could try but it was so bad they felt it was only prolonging the inevitable, exposing her to infection, & her quality of life just wouldn't be there. I hate making these calls but when the vet is reluctant to treat I usually trust their judgement. These guys have been in the district from when it was still all farmland so do a lot of big animals & see a lot of pet chickens. They were really good with both Patricia & me.
Click to expand...
Have to agree with your vet on this one. A terrible shame. :hugs
 
Ribh said:
No I didn't. I know almost nothing about prolapse except it sometimes happens, often to production layers. :( I figured that's what it was. The vet said they use sugar to shrink it before trying to put it all back. She hadn't been pecked, thank heavens! But she was a real mess, especially where I hadn't looked. I just bundled her up & got the 1st boat I could off the island. I'm not the super practical scientific sort & this stuff is totally beyond me. I wasn't even going to try. When they examined her there was a massive blood clot hidden by the prolapse, exposed blood vessels & she was haemorrhaging. They did say they could try but it was so bad they felt it was only prolonging the inevitable, exposing her to infection, & her quality of life just wouldn't be there. I hate making these calls but when the vet is reluctant to treat I usually trust their judgement. These guys have been in the district from when it was still all farmland so do a lot of big animals & see a lot of pet chickens. They were really good with both Patricia & me.
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😢:hugs:hugs❤️❤️
 

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