got out of the bathroom to carnage

[Jkioneil]

so we have two little ones left. Eryakah the pullet and Marley the roo. all the other ladies are big and outside. the two litle ones are indoors. i am getting out of the shower and i hear them screaming. i get dressed as fast as possible but when i get out of the bathroom they are quiet and not in thier brooder. i cal to them and whistle nothing. the back door is open so i go take a peak around the yard nothing. the dog comes and gets me and leads me to the stairs. so i start to creep down the basement stairs the stairwell is dark compared to just being outside in the sun and the door at the bottomo is locked. so i am carefully stepping on each stair on my way to the bottom when YIIIIPPPPP i step right on one of them and i roll my foot across him and i start screaming Thinking i killed him. The dog comes running to the stairs ready to save me i and me and the poor chick are screaming first me then him then me then him. i am scared to look he is only 4 weeks old not very big. we stop screaming and i look and he is runningback and forth on the stair just scared as heck. i pick him up and he is fine.! i can not believe i did not kill him. i have him in a crate and am watching carefully though. poor guy. i held him for awhile and that seemed to help. but as we came back upstairs he started peeping like he does when he gets separated fom erykah. i crate him and keep searching the house. finally i get back to the yard and look all through the bushes and in the garden and then i head for the ladies pen...and i see her. no head one foot and exposed shoulder covered in flies. terrible sight and i look at the dog and he automatically lays down and submits. terrible i can still hear marley crying for her in the house. I scold he dog and now am in the house and i know i need to go out and take care of it but it is so gross!!! poor erykah she was such a sweetie and poor marley is now all alone. and now i have a dog who has tasted a chick.... does that mean he will go after all of them he has always been so good with the ladies. protected them slept with them i dont know what to do. and i am so sad. my husband got a job yesterday so this is my first day alone in the house and all the kids are visiting grandparents so it is just me and it is never just me. we have 7 kids. so i already feel strangly alone and now i get to deal with this. My husband gets to come home and hear that one of the chicks got eaten on my watch. he is really bonded with these two little ones. always talks about how she was going to be in charge of all the ladies he could just tell. stuff like that. man i am sad. and hope i did no damage to poor marley. what a horrible morning! thanks for listening.

 

[MattalynsBarn]

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

No, but the dog definitely needs training. And I find that chicks with their small size and tendency to act flighty and jumpy will nearly always put that prey dxrive into gear, even for a dog who is well trained with adult birds.

I am sorry for your loss

 

[crazy chook]

How awful, I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[crtrlovr]

Quote:
I'm sorry for your loss. This same instinct that Sonoran Silkies mentioned in dogs works in cats too. My cats have NEVER bothered my inside birds of medium to larger size, but once I didn't get the door closed well to the finch/diamond dove cage. (All my birds except the society finches, doves, and the lovebird are freeflighted and not closed into their cages unless severe storms are predicted. They sleep on their play gyms or roost on top of their cages/trees. They can go into or out of their cages/houses at any time). I went outside after that, and while I was out of the house, some of them got out. They are so tiny and so quick, the instinct must have overridden the cats' training. When I came back in, I had four dead finches and a dead dove.

 

[Jkioneil]

my husband came home and lost it. he liked her the best. i think that is what had to have happened the chicks got excited and were running aroud and instinct took over. poor thing. glad he did not get both of them.

it will be sad all over again when the kids get back from grandparents.

thanks for all the hugs.

 

[MysticScorpio82]

I am so sorry for your loss

 

[magic maker]

My tiny 8 pound shih tsu tried to take out a full grown hen yesterday. I had to catch her and pry her off, and she came away with a mouth full of feathers. Have definitely learned that my chickens and dogs can't be yard mates!

 

[dreamwallaby]

Is it possible your dog didn't do it? Do you have stray cats or coons that could have gotten them? First ~ odd the head was missing, not usually a dog trick. A dog is more likely to bite the body or rear end of an excited chicken. Second : dogs will react with the submission when they feel you are angry whether they did the deed or not. It is a form of appeasement and they are trying to calm you down. Dogs get worried when the owner is in extreme states of emotion. Lowering of the head, body, ears, tail and tongue flicking are signs of apeasement and not always guilt. For example ~ if i come home and a dog has had an accident, ALL my dogs react this way even though it's obvious only 1 did the deed.

I am sorry for your loss and I do hope it wasn't your dog.

 

[PoultryPedia]

So, so sorry