I'm feeling so guilty!

[Caila]

Hello, I am new here and am having a pretty bad morning. We are new to raising and caring for chickens. I've had 4 hens and a rooster for several months now, and we recently hatched 6 eggs in an incubator over Easter weekend. I was so excited, and watched many of them making their way out of their eggs into the world. They have been so much fun and so personable. We have been keeping them on the front porch in a brooder tent with a heater plate surrounded by a baby fence.

This morning, I was changing the baby, and when I sat down to feed him, I heard louder chirps than normal. When I opened the front door, my black lab was standing on the brooder tent. I got her off and locked her up. When I came back to check on them, 4 of the 6 were dead. I have never even seen the dog put her paws up on the gate to look in and foolishly didn't think she would jump in there. I buried the 4 and moved the surviving 2 to a metal dog cage with the baby gate surrounding it in the fenced chicken yard. We were going to move everyone out there on Saturday.

I am heartbroken, and feeling so much guilt. I feel like I don't deserve to care for any of them.

 

[Bonwell]

mistakes happen. Don't blame yourself. You know now for next time, and you have a better idea on how to keep the current ones you have safe. I've been taking care of chickens for about a decade now, and have been around them my whole life, I remember probably around 6-7 years ago at this point a raccoon got into our pen and killed several of my chickens. They were pets, it was awful. However, after that we didn't stop taking care of them due to guilt, rather, we just boarded up the area it it got in, and no raccoon or any creature got into that pen again. It's a learning experience.

 

[Bonwell]

Also Welcome to BYC. There's tons of Threads on here regarding safety measures I'm sure, and If you have questions about anything I'm sure somebody can help out

 

[SilverBirds]

So sorry about your chicks. Don't blame yourself or feel unfit to care for them, accidents happen. I think almost every person here has lost a chicken(s), to a mistake they made and have now learned from. It's just a hard learning opportunity that you can now prevent in the future.

 

[nuthatched]

With all due compassion, you need to stop worrying about it. They are just chickens, you were takimg care of your real baby who is infinitely more important. It was your lab being a lab, not from your neglect or stupid mistake. It's unfortunate but not worth this stress you're putting yourself through.

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

Welcome to BYC. I'm sorry to hear this happened to your chicks, but as everyone else has said, it's not your fault.

 

[Battlepants]

In my eyes, the best thing you can do in this situation is to learn from it. Unfortunately, there is nothing more that can be done for the chicks that have passed, but you can still help the ones that survived.

Allow yourself to grieve, allow yourself to be forgiven, but remember what happened so you can prevent it from happening again.

Stay strong, it gets easier in time.

 

[Isadora]

With all due compassion, you need to stop worrying about it. They are just chickens, you were takimg care of your real baby who is infinitely more important. It was your lab being a lab, not from your neglect or stupid mistake. It's unfortunate but not worth this stress you're putting yourself through.

I love this!
Very good perspective.

 

[Acre4Me]

Yeah, it sucks. I’m sorry it happened! Now you know! The first year with any living thing is usually full of learning. You have a baby, which will become a toddler, etc. at some point your toddler may be the one that want to see if they will “swim” or squeeze one too tight bc it make s an interesting sound (both stories shared on BYC), or like my youngest, be gently holding it over the wire brooder top, but then somehow drop one on the concrete floor (which injured the chick). But, you are attentive and what happened today was an accident, pure and simple.

Enjoy the chicks, and all future ones you have.

 

[BarnwoodCoop]

Hello, I am new here and am having a pretty bad morning. We are new to raising and caring for chickens. I've had 4 hens and a rooster for several months now, and we recently hatched 6 eggs in an incubator over Easter weekend. I was so excited, and watched many of them making their way out of their eggs into the world. They have been so much fun and so personable. We have been keeping them on the front porch in a brooder tent with a heater plate surrounded by a baby fence.

This morning, I was changing the baby, and when I sat down to feed him, I heard louder chirps than normal. When I opened the front door, my black lab was standing on the brooder tent. I got her off and locked her up. When I came back to check on them, 4 of the 6 were dead. I have never even seen the dog put her paws up on the gate to look in and foolishly didn't think she would jump in there. I buried the 4 and moved the surviving 2 to a metal dog cage with the baby gate surrounding it in the fenced chicken yard. We were going to move everyone out there on Saturday.

I am heartbroken, and feeling so much guilt. I feel like I don't deserve to care for any of them.

welcome to BYC! i’ve found that when you start out taking care of chickens, you learn very quickly, and chickens die easily.

we have chickens as pets, it’s heartbreaking to lose them trust me i know, chickens are hardy creatures but will also die if you look at them funny. the only thing i can suggest is learn from it, it’s horrible but expect to lose some. hope for the best, plan for the worst is the best phrase i’ve found when it comes to chickens honestly.