Craigboy53
Songster
My wife and I live in a small village in SW Ontario. We bred Burmese cats for 20 years, but having retired a few years ago, we decided to slow down. At one point we had four adult females, and kittens were raised underfoot. It was a hectic place. Now we are down to one rescue cat and a lovely Sheltie named Jesse. In August 2018, we were offered a free chicken coop from a neighbour, and we had always contemplated trying chickens. So, one coop later, with a new run added, we got seven Orpington chicks, two days old. We raised them in the basement following instructions from BYC (very valuable!). One had a deformed leg, and died overnight. The rest grew quickly, and we made them ‘Jesse’s chickens’, and taught him to guard them. As they got big enough, it was still warm enough to move them to the coop. Then, two turned out to be cockerels, which we didn’t want for the neighbours’ sake. We found them a home, and now had three buff Orpingtons, and one a mixed colour. All was well all winter, and near the end of February we got our first two eggs. From then on, we averaged two eggs a day. Then in May, the mixed colour hen died overnight. No apparent cause. No injury, no blood, healthy looking, but dead. The other three enjoyed a nice summer. Because our bush is overrun with fox, coyotes, great horned owls, hawks and bald eagles, we can’t just let the chickens run loose. We would let them out while we worked in the yard, and that worked well. Jesse keeps watch (unless he sees a squirrel).
We find we enjoy the chickens more than we anticipated....and we could never go back to store eggs! They are such fascinating birds. Looking forward to learning a lot more from the members at BYC!
We find we enjoy the chickens more than we anticipated....and we could never go back to store eggs! They are such fascinating birds. Looking forward to learning a lot more from the members at BYC!
Sudden deaths in chickens is hard to diagnose with a necropsy. Lots of things can go wrong in their bodies.
