Help! Emergency!

[The smith family chicks]

I thought you were joking as well..... but after reading through the thread I'm thinking maybe you are serious. If that is the case, I suggest not getting any more chickens until you've spent some time doing research on how to care for poultry. And I'm not even sorry for sounding rude here, but why on earth do you think it's acceptable to yell at children for being upset over the loss of their pets? Like take a step back here and analyze the situation, please. I would even guess that your kids were against "leaving the coop open for the coons". Is that true?

So now that I've got that off my chest, to address the poultry-related issues:

Here on BYC there are 62 articles geared for first-time chicken keepers which you can view here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/getting-started-raising-chickens.21/

And among those articles is an excellent "Chicken Keeping 101" Article with links to additional resources: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-raise-chickens.47660/#housing

Chickens taste delicious to any animal that eats meat. That includes cats, dogs, humans, hawks, coyotes, racoons, weasels, and the list goes on. If it eats meat, your chicken is on the menu.

Chickens need proper feed. Chickens need fresh water daily. They need SPACE to move around. They need a secure coop that is locked up at night, every single night. Most importantly, they need an owner who actually cares enough to take care of them. They aren't some joke, or impromptu investment. They are a living creature that depends on us to survive, just like your children do.

Edited to add: I hope that you apologize to your children.

I spent almost 1000$ making the coop, and my husband spent all summer putting it together in our backyard. He took control of building, and wanted me to take control of taking care of them with my kids. I live in the suburbs of Georgia near the sweetwater creek national park, so I have friends who have farms and told me to do that because it worked on their other farm animals. They also researched online for me. I am reading in on this website on how to take care of chickens, and I have 3 chickens that are still alive so I have to take care of them. As for my kids, I punished them not for trying to stop chickens from being killed, but because they were screaming and throwing tantrums to me and my husband.

 

[AfiafiAfi]

U know u shouldn’t have opened ur coop I mean u could make it more Secure I would never believe a raccoon would want a chick or probably it’s prey as a friend

 

[AfiafiAfi]

Don’t buy any chickens now I feel like humblehillsfarm is right
Try to do some good research there’s no good killing theses poor creatures to see if some raccoon would want them for a friend I don’t want to be rude I really appreciate u building a good coop but try to make it more secure with wires

 

[AfiafiAfi]

Anyways where are u all’s pics?

 

[K0k0shka]

I suggested that this might be a troll as a way to be nice. Because the alternative is truly horrifying. Lots of folks on here start from nothing and learn as they go, but I've never encountered this kind of complete ignorance before. So I was trying to give the OP the benefit of the doubt and assume they were simply trolling/joking. I still can't believe they weren't. I mean seriously... leaving the coop door open so the chickens can "make friends" with carnivorous wildlife? Having all chickens killed and repeating the same mistake expecting a different result? No, my brain refuses to accept that a grown adult can actually truly think all this.

 

[AfiafiAfi]

I’m announcing the winner by 2 days!

 

[Brooks_]

because it worked on their other farm animals.

Like large animals that would not be prey?

 

[AfiafiAfi]

I suggested that this might be a troll as a way to be nice. Because the alternative is truly horrifying. Lots of folks on here start from nothing and learn as they go, but I've never encountered this kind of complete ignorance before. So I was trying to give the OP the benefit of the doubt and assume they were simply trolling/joking. I still can't believe they weren't. I mean seriously... leaving the coop door open so the chickens can "make friends" with carnivorous wildlife? Having all chickens killed and repeating the same mistake expecting a different result? No, my brain refuses to accept that a grown adult can actually truly think all this.

Ik this is a really bad ideas to leave ur coop doors open to predators

 

[Little Chicken Mama]

I still don't think k this is real.

 

[AfiafiAfi]

But it could be