Loss

[CalgaryFarmer]

We recently got 11 heritage chicks; 7 RIR, 3 Amercaunas, and 1 Sussex Light. They are now about 8 weeks old. We lost 2 so far. One early on. We attributed that to what I understand is loss that is generally expected due to genetic factors. (That is what I have read and understand. Correct me if I am wrong.) I did fed the young chicks ham the night before so I often wonder if it was salt in the ham. (I ensured there was adequate grit.) We lost another today at about 7 weeks. Could have been Cocci. The pen was damper than it should have been. I am learning and I am not going to beat myself up too badly.

Part of this whole pilgrimage is to become a bit more connected to our food. It is just eggs now. Maybe some chicken soup later one. Although explaining to my children that amongst those noodles lurks Butter Chicken is another bridge we will have to cross.

Loss ... Fluffy was the first to go. I am not even sure of the name of the one we lost today. Loss is really a stark fact of owning chickens. I have read a lot on here about loss to predators or disease. Some of it is fairly horrific: "Lost 15 to the neighbor's dog" Some of it is fairly calculated: "We free range and we expect to loose a few to predators". Some just die of old age. But they die.

So why am I doing this? Right, to be somewhat more connected to our food. "Well she only lived for 7 weeks but she certainly had a way better life than some battery hen that cannot even turn around in her cage."

At any rate, the point of this post is to try to open up a general discussion on loss. How much a part of it is in having chickens? How to cope with it? How to rationalize/come to terms with it in light of the benefits chickens bring to your family and the better lives your chickens have?

Isn't just way easier (probably way cheaper} to pick up that package of chicken breasts in that foam container sealed in plastic wrap or those dozen eggs that look identical to the ones your chickens lay?

 

[GitaBooks]

Yes, loosing chicks is really hard. I lost one to today. It got tangled up in its momma's silkie feathers and broke its neck. It was really sad, that she should have to walk with the baby stuck to her foot like that. I felt awful. But sometimes accidents happen, and nothing can be done. We research, we do our best, and each time something like that happens we learn. With all the mistakes I've made, I'll be the best expert ever in a few years, Lol.

Sometimes I feel like I don't do enough for them. They all deserve to be given the best, but I just don't have the time. And yet we spend so much on our indoor pets. However, I know that my chickens enjoy their life. If they didn't, then I would not keep them.

I have lost hatching eggs, chicks that were just a few days old, shipped chicks, adults from predation and disease and egg binding. One chicken got hit by a car, a few got taken by a stray cat we had adopted (and found a new home for). It is a very big part of owning chickens, but I certainly hope that as time progress I will learn how to prevent accidents and diseases, and give my chickens the best care I can.

The chick I lost had come shipped. It was scared and with-out a mother. I slipped it under a broody hen and it had a chance to snuggle into her feathers, even if in the end that killed it. It was happy and relaxed and lived a good life, even if it was short.


Loss is always hard. Death is a terrible thing. But its a part of this world, and with all the animals I have kept, I have had to learn to get past the pain and sorrow and continue looking to the future

Toto and Cole (the partridge and black) whom we both lost to predation, we are pretty sure a stray cat. We still have Flo with us, however.


Mavis. She suffered a brain injury and was special needs. I kept her int he basement, but the moisture led to her getting a respiratory infection and dying.


A chick that was attacked by another hen (not its mother). This is it when we helping it to get better, but it eventually passed, along with its two siblings. That mean old hen.


And then there are the little miracles we see every day:

A hen who had all the symptoms of three others who had died, was covered in mites and losing her feathers. She has since made a full recovery. This is her growing back her feathers.


Tiger, one of our cats, attacked by another cat, he was near death when we brought him inside and has since made a full rocovery


Genny, who lost her tail to being hit by a car. It only caught her tail, nothing else.



Pi, a partially blind and seemingly half deaf cat with a terrible limp. It has been over a year and a half since he was hit by a car, and he manages to get around better then I do! Lol.


Miracle. Her mother didn't know what to do with her when she was born, and left her in her sac. She suffocated. We found her and breathed into her mouth and she came back to life.

 

[aart]

Of course it's easier, and definitely cheaper, to buy instead of grow your eggs and meat.

Part of 'knowing your food' is dealing with the less pleasant aspects that we avoid when buying food.
There's a saying: Livestock = Deadstock....and it's certainly true.
Every 'farmer', and that includes the ones that grow food that doesn't have a beating heart, deals with losses from depredation and disease.......
.....it's disappointing and costly(both emotionally and financially).
For me it's part and parcel, and gives me an appreciation for the life cycle of all things and the difficulty of self sustenance.

Now that's all great philosophy, and I haven't had to deal with great losses. No losses to predators or disease in 2 years.
I have had to cull a few chicks that were deformed at hatch and I've harvested a dozen or so extra cockerels and old hens for meat.
It wasn't easy, but was extremely satisfying to 'woman up' to the responsibility of dealing with the down side of 'knowing my food'.

It think it's very important to separate pet owning from food animals.
I despise anthropomorphism, it's just not realistic and causes more pain than comfort IMO.
I won't expound on that subject and leave it at that.

Just my two cents (sense? lol).

 

[microchick]

The Amish farmer that we bought our farm from had an interesting way of explaining the death of one of his animals. One day we were talking to him after he told us that a Holstein calf that had been born on Christmas Eve had died. He felt bad about it as he had been visiting with family and not there to bring the calf in from the cold after it had been born. We told him not to feel bad, that cow had her own timetable for giving birth and he had no way of really knowing that it was going to be that evening. He gave a sigh and said:

"If you have live stock, you're gonna have dead stock."

No matter how much you care about your chickens, whether they are pets, egg producers or destined for Sunday dinner, the fact of the matter is that they are live stock, and yes, livestock dies sometimes no matter what we do to try to help them, they are just dead set on leaving this world. My dad used to say that they just got tired of living, and in a way he was so right. But then, death is the price that every living thing pays for the gift of life, so yes, it is very much a part of raising and maintaining a flock. I have been lucky so far and not lost any of our flock of 18 but so help me if one of the roosters doesn't stop pecking me every time I get near him I'm gonna be helping him leave this plain of existence with my ax!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

So many people are becoming removed from the cycle of life and death, when I was a kid on a farm you saw death,maybe didn't understand it but it happens, Us humans I think have convinced ourselves that everything born lives a perfect life and dies in their sleep. I personally think not knowing death is why there are so many shootings by young people, they have no respect for life or death. They haven't been given the chance to contemplate it, children are sheltered from it, I often wonder if people know what meat is anymore. Keeping chickens is the perfect way to teach children about death as chickens aren't always so long lived. We all need to remember how precious every minute of life is, and how it can be gone so quickly, and how dieing isn't always pleasant or at the proper time.