Horrible Chicken Mom

[GamRich]

I am so thankful our girls survived Hurricane Ian. We left for vacation the Sunday following Ian, making sure there was plenty of water and food in their secured run. A very dependable young man agreed to look in on the girls twice a day. He was instructed to let them into their play yard every morning and give them a 1/2 tray of fodder that I grow for them and a few mealworm treats. He was told not to worry about the water and food (tube feeder) because there was plenty to last five days. In the evenings he was to lock the run (the girls put themselves to bed at 7 and the auto door shuts them in their coop). Everything was going as planned the first three days. Then our "chicken helper" got very sick. I contacted our daughter and asked her to take over the chicken duties, explaining where and how to handle things. On day 4 she went to let the girls out of their run and they attacked her (her words), tore the meal worm bag from her hands and opened the bag devouring the contents. She has never been around chickens and she was "terrified." I don't know if she put out the fodder or not. She made her son go and lock up the girls Thursday night and he opened the gate on Friday morning. We got home late Friday night and assumed all was well. I did the normal chores on Saturday morning, cleaning and giving the girls an apple and a full tray of fodder. They ate like they had never seen food before. Sunday I gave them a bowl of fermented feed and some dry scratch, my husband pulled out their water bucket and it was still good on the water, then he pulled the feeder to refill it. This is where I literally cried. ALL their feed had gotten wet and had hardened to cement. The feeder had to be completely disassembled and scraped clean. Our poor girls had been starving... no wonder they attacked our daughter for food and ate so ravenously when we fed them Saturday and Sunday. Lesson learned, ALWAYS check that food holder after rainy days. I feel like someone totally incompetent, if theses were human kids Social Services would have them in foster care by now! New mom's keep a eye on those feeders (especially tube styles).

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm so glad all the girls are fine. Hard lesson learned. We've all done something in the learning curve of chicken farming.

Good to know about tube feeders.
LofMc

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Glad they're OK - are you OK now? We've all made mistakes - sometimes not quick enough to save the animals. BTDT. But we learn, the hard way, and move on...... and are better animal keepers for it. Thanks for educating me and others here on your experience.

 

[Missyschix13]

Aww love, we all make mistakes. Don't be too hard on yourself. This is how we learn, grow, and get better at what we do. Your girls are fine and will be no worse for the wear. But that's some solid advice to new chicken parents. Always check the feeder/waterer. Even if you're sure everything is fine. Always better safe than sorry. It something that takes seconds but could save you a lot of worry.

 

[GamRich]

Glad they're OK - are you OK now? We've all made mistakes - sometimes not quick enough to save the animals. BTDT. But we learn, the hard way, and move on...... and are better animal keepers for it. Thanks for educating me and others here on your experience.

Glad they're OK - are you OK now? We've all made mistakes - sometimes not quick enough to save the animals. BTDT. But we learn, the hard way, and move on...... and are better animal keepers for it. Thanks for educating me and others here on your experience.

The girls are fine and happy to have life back to their normal. I am okay now that I am sure they are not hungry. It has amazed me how smart and interesting each pullet can be, they are more like lap dogs. They push each other off my lap to get petted and are always under foot, loving the life!

 

[Happy hen lover]

I'm so glad you and they are all okay.
We left son to dog sit our 3 dogs for 30ish hours , we forgot to tell him to hand feed our 1 year old medium sized dog that lived in kennel while we were gone!. He brought over his dog to play gave the lined up treats but OOPS the twice a day feeding instructions kind of got FORGOTTEN! She's fine and grateful we felt horrible! So it happens to us all. I will watch my tube feeders for sure. Good advice.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Reminds me of an opposite mistake I made once. We left for a weekend, and put our two beagles in the basement with two big dishes of water and two of food, with extra, in case we were delayed an extra day or two.
I had forgotten that beagles are a breed that sometimes don't know when to stop eating. When we returned, one of the boys was sooooo bloated. It looked like he had eaten all of the food by himself. He was one miserable pup for a few days.