- Mar 17, 2012
- 28
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So, I've had chickens for between a month and two months. My dad designed and built the coop himself. Up until a week ago, I had six 7-week-old chicks and three easter egger hens and didn't have any problems whatsoever. Then, one day I came home from school and went out to collect eggs as usual and my mom comes out and tells me that the night before the door came unlatched somehow and my dogs killed three of my chicks. I was devasted. I'd had them since they were two days old and spent so much time with them. I got them even before my EE gals. So now I am paranoid about the latch on the door and always second guessing about whether I latched or not, even though I KNOW I absolutely did (but did I?). See what I mean? It's so frustrating!
A day our two after this happened I decided that I obviously wasn't going to have nearly as many laying hens as I wanted, so I asked my dad if we could go to the next swap meet and grab some hens. He had no opposition. Conveniently, the "next meet" was this morning! So we went to the fairgrounds and I bought three laying hens: a cuckoo maran, a lakenvelder, and a mix, along with a mix pullet that should begin laying in a month or two, and a buff silkie (not sure if pullet or cockerel yet). When I bought the three laying hens, they were all from the same seller, and he told us that he was getting rid of them because he kept his chickens free range and these gals wouldn't stay in his yard and apparently were very fast runners and the lakenvelder was a pretty good flyer. My dad and I were just like "No problemo! We have an enclosed chicken yard, so we shouldn't have any problems." I should have freakin' found some wood to knock on. The lakenvelder gal is pretty slim, doesn't like to be anywhere near human beings, and likes to be in the highest place available in her vicinity. Just thirty or so minutes ago I went out to check on how all the newbies were doing and to see if there were any more eggs. All but one of the chickens were either roosting in the coop or in a roosting box in the coop. At first I didn't see the lakenvelder (Calphurnia, I decided to call her, actually), but then I looked up--remembering that she liked high places--and saw her ABOVE the topmost roost box, perched halfway out the 5" ventilation opening my dad put in his design. She must have seen me as soon as I saw her, and--hating humans as she does--immediately took off into my backyard. All my dogs were outside--the ones that would care for nothing more than killing a chicken for sport. I screamed "no!" really loud, sort of at the chicken, sort of at the dogs, kind of just in horror of watching the dogs maliciously chase this beautiful creature across the yard. My parents immediately came outside--the back door had been open--when they heard me scream and caught on to the situation just as quickly. The chicken and dogs went around the garden to the other side of a small forest of bamboo, out of my line of sight and I heard the chicken scream and the dogs growl simultaneously and I screamed again, because I thought they just killed my chicken! Thankfully that was right by the back door and my dad kicked the dog that attacked her away and she hid inside a roll of wire fencing. We got all the dogs put away,caught the dreadful chicken---now missing over half of her pretty tail feathers, but otherwise undamaged--, and put pieces of wire fencing into the 2.5' x 5" vents above the roosting boxes.
I pray to God that nothing else happens to my poor chickens. I don't think I could take anymore traumatizing.
A day our two after this happened I decided that I obviously wasn't going to have nearly as many laying hens as I wanted, so I asked my dad if we could go to the next swap meet and grab some hens. He had no opposition. Conveniently, the "next meet" was this morning! So we went to the fairgrounds and I bought three laying hens: a cuckoo maran, a lakenvelder, and a mix, along with a mix pullet that should begin laying in a month or two, and a buff silkie (not sure if pullet or cockerel yet). When I bought the three laying hens, they were all from the same seller, and he told us that he was getting rid of them because he kept his chickens free range and these gals wouldn't stay in his yard and apparently were very fast runners and the lakenvelder was a pretty good flyer. My dad and I were just like "No problemo! We have an enclosed chicken yard, so we shouldn't have any problems." I should have freakin' found some wood to knock on. The lakenvelder gal is pretty slim, doesn't like to be anywhere near human beings, and likes to be in the highest place available in her vicinity. Just thirty or so minutes ago I went out to check on how all the newbies were doing and to see if there were any more eggs. All but one of the chickens were either roosting in the coop or in a roosting box in the coop. At first I didn't see the lakenvelder (Calphurnia, I decided to call her, actually), but then I looked up--remembering that she liked high places--and saw her ABOVE the topmost roost box, perched halfway out the 5" ventilation opening my dad put in his design. She must have seen me as soon as I saw her, and--hating humans as she does--immediately took off into my backyard. All my dogs were outside--the ones that would care for nothing more than killing a chicken for sport. I screamed "no!" really loud, sort of at the chicken, sort of at the dogs, kind of just in horror of watching the dogs maliciously chase this beautiful creature across the yard. My parents immediately came outside--the back door had been open--when they heard me scream and caught on to the situation just as quickly. The chicken and dogs went around the garden to the other side of a small forest of bamboo, out of my line of sight and I heard the chicken scream and the dogs growl simultaneously and I screamed again, because I thought they just killed my chicken! Thankfully that was right by the back door and my dad kicked the dog that attacked her away and she hid inside a roll of wire fencing. We got all the dogs put away,caught the dreadful chicken---now missing over half of her pretty tail feathers, but otherwise undamaged--, and put pieces of wire fencing into the 2.5' x 5" vents above the roosting boxes.
I pray to God that nothing else happens to my poor chickens. I don't think I could take anymore traumatizing.
