Gasping for air

[cgreese]

...and i also force fed water this morning. :/

I'm not so sure she's gasping for breath. I've had a few chickens in respiratory distress and they didn't do that. Instead, they "rattled" when they breathed.

Chickens do that movement when they have discomfort in their crop. Is her neck injury low enough where her crop could be affected? Is her crop full by any chance? Fluid buildup perhaps? It would feel like a water balloon.

Her crop could have been affected. I’m just not sure. She did have some rattling, but not consistent. Her crop was not full. I’m thinking the raccoon injured a lung and/or punctured something in that area that she couldn’t recover from. She died this afternoon. Heartbroken.

 

[azygous]

Grieving for a lost chicken is no less painful than a dog or cat. That's my experience. I am just as attached to these chickens of mine as I was to my twenty-one year old cat, and I grieve for them as I did that cat who was in my life for over two decades.

Action is the best remedy for grief. Figure out how to keep those evil raccoons away from your chickens. They have all sorts of ideas on the Predators and Pests forum.

 

[cgreese]

Grieving for a lost chicken is no less painful than a dog or cat. That's my experience. I am just as attached to these chickens of mine as I was to my twenty-one year old cat, and I grieve for them as I did that cat who was in my life for over two decades.

Action is the best remedy for grief. Figure out how to keep those evil raccoons away from your chickens. They have all sorts of ideas on the Predators and Pests forum.

Yes...i Love my girls as much as my dogs and cats! Having them in our lives Is so rewarding, and so hard when they’re not around any longer. I have ordered new hardware cloth, stakes, and chicken wire. It’s going to be like Fort Knox up in here! Definitely going to check out the Predators and Pests forum! Thank you for the suggestions, and thanks again for your understanding and support today! It’s been a rough day. But, I’m on a mission to make my coop/pen predator-impossible for my sweet girls that survived that awful night!

 

[azygous]

One of the best deterrents is hot wire. 10,000 volts delivers a good solid message. I was just over there recommending it to an old friend.

 

[cgreese]

One of the best deterrents is hot wire. 10,000 volts delivers a good solid message. I was just over there recommending it to an old friend.

Do you put the hot wire just around the perimeter of the coop and pen? In front of the door, also?

 

[azygous]

It doesn't have to go all the way around. But if you choose to go across a door, they have insulated handles so you can easily unhook the wire to go in.

It's a pulsing current, thereby safe, by the way. I run two strands, one about 30 inches high and the other about ten inches from the ground. Peanut butter dabbed on the wire at intervals invites a predator to taste. It's lots of fun watching such an animal get the message, do a 180 and run off like his nose is on fire, which it must feel like. If the soil is damp it's even more effective.

 

[cgreese]

It doesn't have to go all the way around. But if you choose to go across a door, they have insulated handles so you can easily unhook the wire to go in.

It's a pulsing current, thereby safe, by the way. I run two strands, one about 30 inches high and the other about ten inches from the ground. Peanut butter dabbed on the wire at intervals invites a predator to taste. It's lots of fun watching such an animal get the message, do a 180 and run off like his nose is on fire, which it must feel like. If the soil is damp it's even more effective.

I’m so doing this, too!! I would love nothing more than to freak out the varmints that took my chickens! Do you do secure fencing in addition to the electric wiring?

 

[azygous]

The hot wire is only effective if it's installed a few inches out from another barrier such as a fence or building. A hot wire suspended in free air is useless as a critter gracefully jumps over or through the strands.

 

[jonalisa]

Oh no, cgreese, I'm so sorry.

 

[peckpeckpeck]

Oh poor girl! I'm so sorry!

It really is so hard because we get so attached to them. I can't believe I've had my girls for less than a year because I can't imagine how I lived without them.

Sounds like you really loved your BO & she looked like such a sweetie in the video. At least now she's not suffering anymore.

Big hugs to you!