Just a few nights ago i lost a silkie hen 2 chicks and ende up with a pretty badly beat up silkie roo who doesnt know if he wants to die or just peck the daylights out of me when I get near him. Oddly enough, today, i swapped out my birds. I have a smaller pen inside the larger pen i was keeping 10 young birds, mixed flock so that the silkie could do her egg sitting. Since my silkie roo needed some R&R and he will no longer go back into the coop, i put him in the smaller pen which has it's own shelter. The younger birds have been super happy all day long after the change. I went in and one of my hens sat on my knee and i scratched her chest and she dozed off, i thought it was sweet but she has been doing it everywhere the rest of the afternoon. I put her in the coop and there she has stayed. She moved in a bit further from where I put her..but not far. My other chickens were gotten by dogs, so i have no idea about ill chickens. I may very well say after these ones are all gone, no more chickens. I think what got the silkies and the chicks was an oppsum but i have nothing of clear indication thats what it was. And whatever it was didnt get in with the younger birds in the smaller pen as it is completely enclosed. I did notice it smelling foul in there today but i assumed it's because of the rain we just got. I'm pretty OCD about raking and removing debris every other day in there. I just don't know...never thought i'd get attatched to chickens, and it seems to be heartbreaking. I take precautions to prevent the preventable...then, another variable pops up and i'm completely ill-prepared for it. So...me being a pesamist, if she's alive in the morning, are there any suggestions I should try?
