Joined today after losing two chickens :-(

[Shadrach]

Welcome to BYC. When introducing new chickens/chicks provide as much space as possible. The older hen will pick on them and the new birds need to be able to get away.
It's amazing how attached a person can get. Mine are pets. Sorry for your loss.

New petsView attachment 1627386

Sorry about this everyone but I just had to say what a gorgeous looking pair.

 

[cuilleree]

Sorry for your losses, that's never easy. When you get your new birds, you can try the "look but can't touch" method for integration (worked well for me). Simply put that's where the 2 groups of birds can see each other, but not hurt one another. I separated my 2 groups with chicken wire within the coop and run. After 2-3 weeks, I was able to let them mix with minimal fighting. Having extra feeders and waterers helps too.

Best of luck to you, it's nice to have you here!

Thanks for the advice. A thread I read said they used a wire dog crate when the hens were still chicks, and that seemed to be a good way to start introductions before letting them mingle. We can also use chicken wire for a yard-within-a-yard--good idea.

 

[MissChick@dee]

When it comes time for introducing new members there’s a proper way to do it. Folks may have their own personal twist’s on the method. When you get close to that point take pictures of your setup and start a new thread. You’ll get lots of suggestions and ideas. Best wishes

 

[cuilleree]

Hello cuilleree
Welcome to BYC
How did your two hens die?
Thankfully I tend to lose one at a time. Two in one hit would break my heart.

They were attacked in the coop sometime after they had gone to bed but before our chickensitter had arrived home to close it up (on the West Coast, they are going to bed around 4:45--my husband and I are out of town, which makes all this worse). One escaped, and the other two were killed but not eaten. Not sure what the predator was; we think it might have been a cat that we've seen several times in the yard. We do have raccoons in the neighborhood, but we've never seen them in our yard (we were extremely paranoid when we first started raising chickens and did a lot of surveillance). We live in a fairly dense urban area, so I doubt we have foxes.

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
So very sorry to hear of your losses.
I too lost one of my girls 2 days ago to the neighbors German Shepherd. She had flown out of her electrified pen along with 2 other flock mates. The other two survive unscathed.
She was too severely injured to save. It was agony to see her suffering so the dogs owner put her out of her misery. RIP my sweet little Bunny.

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks for the advice. A thread I read said they used a wire dog crate when the hens were still chicks, and that seemed to be a good way to start introductions before letting them mingle. We can also use chicken wire for a yard-within-a-yard--good idea.

Don't use chicken wire for anything; use hardware cloth with half inch rectangles.

 

[cuilleree]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
So very sorry to hear of your losses.
I too lost one of my girls 2 days ago to the neighbors German Shepherd. She had flown out of her electrified pen along with 2 other flock mates. The other two survive unscathed.
She was too severely injured to save. It was agony to see her suffering so the dogs owner put her out of her misery. RIP my sweet little Bunny.

Ugh. That's awful. We foster dogs, and we are always very careful to see whether or not they are reactive to the chickens. Some don't care AT ALL about them, and others want to attack them so badly that they quiver. We make sure to keep them far from the door to the yard!

I can't prove it, but I have a feeling that the predator was a neighborhood cat that I've seen in the yard several times looking at the chickens. I wish cat (and dog) owners would keep control of their animals. Your loss sounded like an unfortunate accident, but even so, it's so hard to deal with. I'm sorry that happened.

 

[N F C]

Cats can be a danger to chicks but it would have to be some weird cat to go after not just one, but two, full grown chickens.

Here's a link to the Predator section of the Learning Center...there are a lot of things out there looking for a chicken dinner:'
predators-pests.28

 

[Pork Pie]

Welcome to BYC - i wish you the best of luck.

 

[cuilleree]

Cats can be a danger to chicks but it would have to be some weird cat to go after not just one, but two, full grown chickens.

Here's a link to the Predator section of the Learning Center...there are a lot of things out there looking for a chicken dinner:'
predators-pests.28

We do have opossums, but I thought because they weren't eaten that it probably wasn't an opossum that attacked. I'll do more research to try to figure it out.