Lost a lady today.

[misssunfish]

Lost my first hen today. :'(
Wilma was getting older and had been having a tough time lately. She had been sick a couple weeks ago and she seemed to had gotten better after a dose of antibiotics. She was a beautiful Orpington and I loved her fluffy self. I didn't think it would be this hard to lose a hen..she will be missed.

 

[Posh Chickens]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss,

It happens to the best of us! You're lucky you got to spend the last few days with her. I went out for 5 minutes, and all my breeding birds had been taken. It was heartbreaking.

 

[misssunfish]

So sorry Posh. It is definitely harder than I thought it would be, but I'm glad that she we found her the way we did and didn't have to make any difficult decisions. Such is the life of caring for animals!

 

[tadpole98]

Thats so sad. I too just lost the very first chicken I ever got a week ago. She was getting older though, so it was expected.

 

[Volkova]

I'm so sorry for your loss! It's so strange how we develop close relations with our chickens. I, personally have had an unfortunate relationship with chickens, and I'm only a teenager! (Sad story alert! Sorry about the length)

Last summer, I started up my own chicken business, selling eggs, chicks etc. ,since I needed some project to work on before going back to school, my parents had so many more chickens than I did (80:4). I started with 5, 1 Buff Orp Cockerel, 2 Buff Orp hens and 2 Araucana hens. I also had 3 Silkies in a separate flock. I was desperate for the eggs but it took a long, long, long time.

4 weeks into me having them, my Buff Orp hen died, of unknown causes, we suspect a sudden change in environment made her ill. I was so disappointed! I got another Orpington (thank god), but she was really young.

Literally, two weeks to the day, my other Buff Orp hen died! I was so gutted! My parents said it was just bad luck.

Just at the end of summer, my Silkie hen fell ill, she couldn't walk and I had to force feed her food and water. It was distressing and I found out it was Marek's disease after a lot of research, I couldn't afford the vaccine and so I had to put her down and disinfect the pen like mad!

I couldn't restock her so I decided to hatch some chicks out, Polish and Leghorns. I ordered my eggs online and after 30 days, I had 10 extra chicks to add to my flock of 4. I raised them quite well and I was proud of my achievement, raising them from egg to pullet by myself.

Unfortunately, I left the coop door open one day, while cleaning out the pen. Foxes are pretty much guaranteed to come every night to my farm and he did. He took all of my Polish chicks (luckily the Leghorns were in separate housing).

Months later (now January), my Araucanas and 1 Orp hen started to lay, I was amazed and I loved it. I planned to hatch them out but my Araucana hen went broody so I thought I'd leave her to it for me so I put her in the Silkie pen.

Guess what happened next! A fox came in the night, tore the door down grabbed the Orps and 1 Araucana, killed em and left all the heads everywhere. I was looking forward to having eggs to hatch but with nearly all my chickens gone I was gutted once again!

I placed giant slabs against doors and bricks on roofs and nest boxes. The following night, Mr and Mrs Fox came back, knocked the slabs and bricks out, dug under the run and ripped the nest boxes and doors open. They took my Silkie couple, all of but 1 of my Leghorns and my Araucana who was hatching out her eggs right at the point. I could tell the Araucana put up a fight because there were her feathers everywhere across the field. I was thinking about giving up at this point. I gave the last Leghorn rooster to my parents and had to rethink.

But, I'm not going to give up! I lost 25 chickens in total within a year. But, I'm starting again, stronger this time. I know more about chickens and predators. I'm making my own pen with 2 sets of 6ft electric fencing, large bolted doors and off the ground to stop diggers getting in. I've had learnt from my mistakes and I'm ready to take on nature again! I'm currently hatching out Wyandottes and Marans, and I'm planning 'rebooting' my business to sell fertile hatching eggs on eBay for my college funds.

Lesson of the day: Never give up! I hope your other chickens are fine and healthy. Keep moving forward and never look back.