Since were about 1/3 of the way done with my coop remodel, things are pretty torn up. My hubby took apart the center divider, which at this time splits the hens away from the roosters. I only have two of each breed of hen and one roosterso the hens would be completely overwhelmed if they were ALL housed together. Anyway, I thought Id blocked the only small hole left after my hubby patched it back together (by using the watering trough that houses my juvenile bantam cochins). But when I got home Wednesday night, Gertrude was wedged in between the coop & the wall. The wall is made out of chicken wire (1) with hardware cloth around the bottom to prevent bantam chicks from squeezing through (I used to use one side of the coop to rear chicks). Anyway, Gertrudes back was a little bit bloody and she seemed dehydrated. I cleaned the wound, put blue-kote on it and carried her to the water. She drank a lot, ate a little bit and then started to wander around. Hubby is out of town at the state track meet, so I went back in & using my good hand I managed to slide a 1 x 6 into the slot and used a piece of log (about a 2 chunk of round firewood) to hold up the board.
I always feed/water the flock twice per day and went out yesterday morning and gave them all fresh water, filled their feeders and checked on everyone. Gertrude was in the coop and always talked to me. She was VERY vocal. She was one of my favoritesloved to be picked up & carried around.
Anyway, I got home last night & walked down to the coop everyone came running, except Gertrude. I called her and nothing. I went to the coop and saw the log was tipped over and the board was just a little bit moved. I pulled back the trough and found Gertrude, dead. I pulled her out & she had gotten wedged in there again and struggled, ripping her feathers & skin off and rubbing herself down to the bone on her thigh. Blood was everywhere.
Ive lost a few chickens in my time but never sobbed over one like I did last night. She was my one & only light Brahma (from Tori in Alaska) and the reason I was going to buy some more Light Brahma eggs and include those on my farm.
I always feed/water the flock twice per day and went out yesterday morning and gave them all fresh water, filled their feeders and checked on everyone. Gertrude was in the coop and always talked to me. She was VERY vocal. She was one of my favoritesloved to be picked up & carried around.
Anyway, I got home last night & walked down to the coop everyone came running, except Gertrude. I called her and nothing. I went to the coop and saw the log was tipped over and the board was just a little bit moved. I pulled back the trough and found Gertrude, dead. I pulled her out & she had gotten wedged in there again and struggled, ripping her feathers & skin off and rubbing herself down to the bone on her thigh. Blood was everywhere.
Ive lost a few chickens in my time but never sobbed over one like I did last night. She was my one & only light Brahma (from Tori in Alaska) and the reason I was going to buy some more Light Brahma eggs and include those on my farm.
