I'm so upset....update :(

[Katy]

I guess in my haste to get to the hospital to see my grandbaby my blue orp pen door didn't get shut completely. My husband called and said he thought our rat terrier had gotten one of my chickens cuz there were feathers in the yard. Also that he had seen her with something dark colored down in the cow lot. Now when I got home a little while ago there are splash feathers in the yard. I went back to the pen and the door is pushed open a little. I tried to get a head count but it was too dark. I won't know until morning how many she got. There are no feathers in the pen so she must have snatched and ran out with them. I'm just sick about this, I can't even get mad at her....it's my fault the gate was left unlatched. I just want to cry. My 2 oldest blue wyandottes were also in this pen. I've worked my butt off to make the pens safe for them and now my stupidity causes this. 2 is bad enough, but hopefully that's all she got.

 

[Buster]

What a bummer. I hope things turn out as good as they can at this point. Let us know...

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Sorry for your loss. Not a great thing to come home to. This is why I'm trying to build an auto coop door closer so when I forget (which I will) I have a backup system.

 

[corancher]

Katy

My thoughts are with you. I know you have worked really hard on these. I hope it is not a hugh loss.

 

[speckledhen]

Katy, maybe it isn't as bad as you think. At least, I hope so. Please dont beat yourself up about this. We all know how conscientious you are about your birds, but with your granddaughter's illness, things just happen. Let us know, okay?

 

[Katy]

Ann,,,,,The chicks I hatched from your eggs were in this pen....just makes my sick. Their coops in that pen right now are 2 big dog houses and I could see there were a bunch in each of them yet, so hopefully it'll only be two...which is still 2 too many.

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Thanks Cyn, but I just feel awful.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Oh darn Katy...I know how you must be feeling...so sorry...

 

[momma's chickens]

I am sorry and I know you feel really bad about this, but unfornuately accidents happen. Please, please don't beat yourself up about this too badly!

 

[Katy]

It's even worse than I imagined. There are 12 blue orps gone. I'm physically ill about this. The big splash roo that crowed yesterday for the first time is one of them and my favorite pullet is too. Most are from the younger group, and a good portion were pullets. There is no sign of the dogs being in the pen so I think the chicks wandered out and they got them then. I could only find the remains/feathers of 4. Since first light I've been out searching, hoping maybe some of them took cover in one of the outbuildings, but I can't find anything of them. I'm sure the dogs took them off and buried them in the field which means I'll be faced with them bringing them back up to the yard over the next couple of weeks. I'm not quite back to square one, but this definately set me back a lot. Both my blue wyandottes are actually still here so that's one bright spot. The one little orp I hatched from Cyn is still in the brooder in the main coop and I've one blue in the basement out of an Angela Stanley egg that hatched last week. Then my husband thinks I'm nuts for crying over chickens.