Half of my flock is gone!

[Sagebrush]

Hello from Wyoming.

I just joined byc 3 weeks ago, proud of my young girls, 5 rir/nhr cross, 5 br and what I was told were 4 buff orp. Turns out they are cinnamon queen sex linked. Last week our young teenaged son apparently didn't get the coop door shut well enough during his roosting time check and a big wind came a long and the door flew open without our knowledge. Unfortunately, our English Setter was quite aware and killed 8 of the girls. All of my reds and 3 br. The two remaining barred were injured but are both doing great and expected to fully recover. He wants to show his chickens at the fair and was devastated that his actions caused this. We both cried half the night. It's a hard lesson but a lesson well learned for him. It was an accident and I'm sure it will not occur a second time. However, as an added measure my husband installed a new,latch.

Needless to say the remaining 6 are spoiled even more than they were before! Two of them even started laying the next day and now all 4 cinnamon are.

I loved the reds and barrreds, three of the cinnamons are sweet and all are intelligent but one (Lagertha) is nasty and pecks us, hard! Thus the choice of name. I don't think I want anymore of them, just in case I get another like her.

I'd like to replenish our flock fairly soon with either barred or rir or nhr. It gets awfully cold in Wyoming, starting around late October typically but it can start sooner. These were all raised inside from chicks this past spring. Considering the cold and having to introduce the newbies once their old enough to the girls, ii seems like pullets would be the best option at this time of year.

I'll gladly except any advice on this, including recommendations of where to get them.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

First of all I am sorry for your losses. It is a hard thing to lose your girls and I have to say that keeping chickens definitely is a learning type of experience- for young and old! I am still learning a great deal too and I hope your young man can forgive himself and move on.

I would be concerned about bringing in disease by bringing in adults. I prefer to buy chicks (or you could go with McMurray's 4 week olds or pullets for example- I do trust a hatchery pretty much) but if you go the Craigslist route be extremely careful. There are lots of good sellers there of course but then there are those who sell diseased chickens, unknowingly- even mites/lice/worm problems they may not know about. Experience speaking here!

Later on say next year if you want, you can let one of your pullets go broody and buy hatching eggs if you can afford to take chances. Shipped eggs give me about a 50% hatch rate. And of course sometimes nothing will hatch. Hatching eggs should also be purchased from a trusted source, since mycoplasma gallisepticum can pass through the egg to the chick. The only thing is, that 50% will be male and so you have to have a way to deal with the roosters.

Since you wish to buy some pullets or chicks now, I would go the hatchery route (or feed store if they buy from a hatchery). Really! To have the best chances of healthy chickens. But whether you buy day old chicks, 4 week olds, or started pullets, there really is a difference in the chances of healthy vs. not healthy- by where you purchase from.

http://www.mypetchicken.com/about-chickens/farms-and-hatcheries.aspx
here is a list
I have bought from Mypetchicken, cackle, ideal, mcmurray, and welp and have been pleased with all of them. I have been both pleased and NOT pleased with Craigslist!

Now there is something to be said about reputable breeders, as well. There are many many breeders on BYC who are fastidious about biosecurity, and so if you can buy from someone like that then disease would not be an issue hopefully. I have purchased hatching eggs that way and was VERY pleased.

I hope this helps.

 

[Sagebrush]

Thanks you for the condolences and the information. I definitely was considering the hatchery route. There is nothing available locally right now it seems. I use Craigslist list rarely. I mostly use our local facebook groups. It seems the feed stores only purchase chicks in the spring. However, you've given me an idea to at least ask them if they do ever order pullets in the fall and maybe do it for me. Wherever they got their chicks is a good place. All the chicks were healthy and I didn't lose any even though I was told to expect to.

I had chickens when I was growing up and I shared with my son some of my heartbreak losing my favorites. I think this eased some of the pain he felt. He's taking really good care of the girls. It helped that one of the survivors was his favorite and the only one we named (Brutus) because he thought she was a rooster as a chick. It just stuck and Brutus is recovered and now doing well and back at the top of the pecking order.

Regards and thanks again!

 

[chickens r life]

Thanks you for the condolences and the information. I definitely was considering the hatchery route. There is nothing available locally right now it seems. I use Craigslist list rarely. I mostly use our local facebook groups. It seems the feed stores only purchase chicks in the spring. However, you've given me an idea to at least ask them if they do ever order pullets in the fall and maybe do it for me. Wherever they got their chicks is a good place. All the chicks were healthy and I didn't lose any even though I was told to expect to.

I had chickens when I was growing up and I shared with my son some of my heartbreak losing my favorites. I think this eased some of the pain he felt. He's taking really good care of the girls. It helped that one of the survivors was his favorite and the only one we named (Brutus) because he thought she was a rooster as a chick. It just stuck and Brutus is recovered and now doing well and back at the top of the pecking order.

Regards and thanks again!

I know what you and your son are going through. I too have lost part of my flock do to a silly error. I want you to know that I give you my deepest condolences since loosing a pet is not fun.

 

[drumstick diva]

I am so sorry for your loss but, honestly if this hadn't happened, I think your dog would have gone after the chickens as soon as he had an opportunity. Just like he did now.

Sad to say many of the new members posting here have had similar tales of woe, with either their cats or dogs. I am a dog lover. Cats not at all. But the best way to have both, is to be certain they are kept far apart. Dogs + chickens = dead chickens. You never hear of a chicken killing a dog or cat.

I hope your son can forgive himself.

We all make mistakes. But, we learn and don't repeat them.

 

[Blooie]

I am so sorry this happened to you. Boy, I know all about those unpredictable Wyoming winds! You know you're in Wyoming when you step out the door and get a mouthful of Idaho. Your son didn't make any mistake that hasn't been made by plenty of others before him, so he can just pick up his head and keep moving forward from here.

Where are you in Wyoming? I might be persuaded to part with a couple of my pullets for your son, no charge, if you are close enough where you'd feel comfortable coming to get them. All laying or near POL, sound as a dollar, and I have a couple of extra Buff Brahmas (which I have come to dearly love but don't need all 8 of them). They are very winter hardy, and lay brown eggs. To give you an idea of what our set up looks like, this is our coop and run:


We also have an English Setter. She is fantastic around them. This is Molly relaxing in the run, along with several of our last batch of chicks.




And this is part of our flock. If we can help you out, please let us know. Beats the heck out of Craig's List unknowns, and it isn't like there are that many listings for most areas of the state anyway! Cowley is up in the Northern part of the state about 50 miles from Cody.

 

[N F C]

My condolences to you and your son on the loss of your birds, that's always hard to go through no matter the cause.

Wherever you get more birds, be sure to read up on insolation and integration. You'll want to isolate new birds away from your existing flock for 30 days, then use the 'look but don't touch' method of integration so they get used to each other before being mixed together. Chickens don't take kindly to new birds without a proper introduction and the pecking order will have to be worked out. Here's a good article from the Learning Center that might explain it better:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/adding-to-your-flock

As for the red sex links...the 3 in our mixed flock are the only ankle peckers in the bunch. We quickly learned to pick them up as soon as one pecks and hold them for a few minutes. Now they pretty much only lightly peck when they want some extra attention. One of the RSL's has even become my biggest cuddler. Those 3 girls are egg laying machines and I don't ever want to miss out on having them in our flock.

Good luck to you and your son. It's nice to have you here!

 

[Sagebrush]

Thanks all for the encouragement.

To Blooie,

Oh my. We're in Powell and I work in Lovell. You can't get much closer than that! I 'd love to visit with you about some pullets and also how you have a bird dog that doesn't bother your chickens. With all that breeding in their DNA I didn't think it possible.

 

[Blooie]

Thanks all for the encouragement.

To Blooie,

Oh my. We're in Powell and I work in Lovell. You can't get much closer than that! I 'd love to visit with you about some pullets and also how you have a bird dog that doesn't bother your chickens. With all that breeding in their DNA I didn't think it possible.

Holy smokes! 20 miles away? Shoot, in Wyoming we drive further than that for a hamburger! PM me and we'll set something up. And as my friend NorthFlChick said, even though I know my birds are solid, healthy, and active, that period of isolation is always prudent. And of course, you aren't under any obligation....if you don't want a couple of these you can still sit on the deck with us, watch for hummingbirds, and visit for a bit!

 

[N F C]

Holy smokes! 20 miles away? Shoot, in Wyoming we drive further than that for a hamburger! PM me and we'll set something up. And as my friend NorthFlChick said, even though I know my birds are solid, healthy, and active, that period of isolation is always prudent. And of course, you aren't under any obligation....if you don't want a couple of these you can still sit on the deck with us, watch for hummingbirds, and visit for a bit!

Blooie, I hope you know I wouldn't even suggest your birds aren't healthy. A friend of mine is taking our 2 BA's this week and I want her to isolate my birds before mingling too. It was just a caution to integrate carefully.

Love ya Blooie!