I think im about done...

[k625]

Went out to do my daily egg collection, and found that my last silver laced polish hen was gone, my mixed silkie polish hen, and my last frizzled buff laced polish hen was gone as well

I am so upset, and to top it all off I now have a yard full of feathers everywhere just to remind me!!! So now I have 1 poor awesome buff laced polish rooster, and 1 gl polish roo and 2 gl polish hens!!! I will not be breeding anything this year at this rate, and have nothing left! I think at this point im just about to get rid of everything and throw in the hat! Until this last year I had not really lost any birds, and this year has just been terrible for me..brid wise! I cant afford to buy anything else to add into my breeding, and it would almost be easier to just give it all up. I can only keep my fingers crossed that I have secured everything well enough now to keep what I have alive. Thanks for listening to me vent, I am just so upset!!

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I hope you can keep the birds you have left. This Spring started bad for us too, but it is looking up slowly. Sorry for your loss!

 

[ranchhand]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. There's nothing worse than walking out to a disaster.

Now, let's put all our BYC heads together and think this through. What happened and what can you do to prevent it from ever happening again? I lost 13 last year to a dog attack- and I reinforced everything beyond Ft. Knox level, or so I thought. Still wasn't enough to stop an opossum a few weeks ago.

We're here to help if we can!

 

[ChickenMama18]

Quote:
What did you do to fix the problem???

 

[ninejw]

I'm sorry!! This year has been bad on me too. I'm on my 4th loss for the year after doing great my first 2 years. This year I've seen everything from foxes to prolapsed vents...I feel your pain. My parents want me to throw in the towel on it too but I love my birds.

 

[387026]

I free range around a 100 birds, I loss 3 birds the whole year last and the year before I loss 2.
We do have coops that are closed up tight at night, make sure every one is in at dusk and close up. We farm other livestock so we are here most of the time.
I have 15 guineas that warn me of predators, when they are screeching I check things out, some times it is nothing but there are times they spot hawks and they do go after them.
Also my biggest benefit is I run 2 dogs loose on property. Foxes do not like dogs and the dogs will bark at them and run them off.
LGDs are great too. I know people that use them for poultry and swear by them. You can train them to guard poultry and they will attack other dogs that come near the poultry.
I had a dog try to attack my peacock a few weeks ago, would have been a big loss financially, but my 2 dogs went after him and I heard the noise and was able to get my rifle and take a shot at him.
So if you have enough land I say dogs are the best to have.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
What did you do to fix the problem???

I invested heavily in hardware cloth. The possum found a gap and got in anyway.

The possum is now dead and gaps have been closed, but nothing is 100%. Hated shooting the possum, so I am adding even more defense, including an electric fence. I bought the parts last year but hadn't installed it yet because I will have to hack through a jungle. Should have just done it.

 

[okieglory]

I'm so sorry

but don't throw in the hat, you always have your BYC friends here to help!!!!

 

[Lolita]

 

[Woods_Woman]

Oh what a bummer, I am so sorry you lost your birds