Lost My Flock - How to Replace??

[AllenK RGV]

I had posted my cockerel in the local newspaper so you may look there for chicks/chickens, but the man who took him said he checks craigslist often to find people selling/ giving away birds. If you don't want to go that route there are many hatcheries that ship chicks & sometimes laying pullets, but the laying pullets often expensive. I don't know where you're located, but I would first look for what hatchery is close to you and consider ordering from there. You can order from Tractor Supply, but I will warn you that the hatchery they ship from is located in Iowa. I ordered from them in the early spring and most of the chicks in my shipment didn't make it, but I'm in Ohio and it took several days for them to get here. Which is why I suggest looking to see where the closest hatchery is located and ordering from them.
I had one bird who I didn't get put in one night and something got her. We assume a coyote. I told my kids, but since they weren't home I was able to leave out the part where it was my fault, though they blamed me anyway. After that I kept the chickens in for about 2 weeks. I usually don't let my birds out unless someone is there to supervise (they are at my parent's house), but have left them for up to a 1/2 hr when necessary. They have a fairly large run though they've eaten all the grass it lets them go outside, dig in the dirt, and have extra space while being safe and protected.

Arpryl29- Isn't Meyers in Polk, OH your nearest hatchery?

 

[Sassysouth]

There are probably a few FaceBook groups in your area that are selling adult hens and even Craigslist. You would just have to know it would take time to develop a relationship with them.

 

[AllenK RGV]

I had posted my cockerel in the local newspaper so you may look there for chicks/chickens, but the man who took him said he checks craigslist often to find people selling/ giving away birds. If you don't want to go that route there are many hatcheries that ship chicks & sometimes laying pullets, but the laying pullets often expensive. I don't know where you're located, but I would first look for what hatchery is close to you and consider ordering from there. You can order from Tractor Supply, but I will warn you that the hatchery they ship from is located in Iowa. I ordered from them in the early spring and most of the chicks in my shipment didn't make it, but I'm in Ohio and it took several days for them to get here. Which is why I suggest looking to see where the closest hatchery is located and ordering from them.
I had one bird who I didn't get put in one night and something got her. We assume a coyote. I told my kids, but since they weren't home I was able to leave out the part where it was my fault, though they blamed me anyway. After that I kept the chickens in for about 2 weeks. I usually don't let my birds out unless someone is there to supervise (they are at my parent's house), but have left them for up to a 1/2 hr when necessary. They have a fairly large run though they've eaten all the grass it lets them go outside, dig in the dirt, and have extra space while being safe and protected.

Your post got me to thinking as well. Were I to do a reset I would have set up my 55gallon(bottom cut out) compost bin inside the chicken run. My flock just discovered it yesterday and were digging crazy outside the edges of it while free ranging. So as an additional reward I turned the pile with my garden weasel tool to get all the bugs moving then started dustbustering to provide forage bugs for the flock. We had a good time last night around the bin for our evening free range time. I was just reflecting on what to do in the run when all of the grass is gone.

 

[Hen Pen Jem]

The heart break is just horrible and so painful. Forgive yourself, you have young children and other animals too. I can see how this mishap could occur. All the previous posts make excellent points and offer solid advice. I just adopted 5 hens from someone on Craigslist. They were 5 months old in May when I got them. The people realized it was too much for them to care for chickens. So, they let me have them for free! After a long quarantine, they have turned out to be very good hens. I decided to take more hens in after losing two chickens this year. Live, learn and love...God Bless.

 

[deepbluesea]

So sorry for your loss! As someone earlier said, a lot of us have made the same mistake, though not always with your horrible result. It happens. hug to you.

That said, I'm with you on telling your kids. It will make an impression and could serve to remind them about responsibility. That's just me.

Hang in there, and let us know what you end up doing!

 

[apryl29]

Arpryl29- Isn't Meyers in Polk, OH your nearest hatchery?

Yes, it's about 1 1/2 hrs from me. Unfortunately I had no idea about them when I ordered from TSC.. I didn't think to look at where the chicks were shipped from and assumed they came from someplace local. Lesson learned! I bought 8 of my birds from a local store that bought them from Meyers and they were all very nice birds, except my buff orp was mis-sexed as a female.

There are probably a few FaceBook groups in your area that are selling adult hens and even Craigslist. You would just have to know it would take time to develop a relationship with them.

When I was trying to rehome my buff orp cockerel I tried to post him on several sites on fb and got blocked b/c according to their terms you can't sell live animals on fb (even though I was giving him away). I gave up and listed him in the local newspaper.

Your post got me to thinking as well. Were I to do a reset I would have set up my 55gallon(bottom cut out) compost bin inside the chicken run. My flock just discovered it yesterday and were digging crazy outside the edges of it while free ranging. So as an additional reward I turned the pile with my garden weasel tool to get all the bugs moving then started dustbustering to provide forage bugs for the flock. We had a good time last night around the bin for our evening free range time. I was just reflecting on what to do in the run when all of the grass is gone.

That's a great idea. We don't compost, pretty much anything we'd compost is already going to the chickens, or it's stuff they shouldn't eat (pepper/tomato plants, etc). My mom got some black walnuts still in the husk and we tossed those where the garden was and the chickens have been enjoying the bugs in there. I had been raking out old grass and stuff all summer and then realized I should have left it in there, but then they got mites so I would have raked it all out anyway.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

..... I guess it' a lesson they'll need to learn at some point any way.

1) will I ever be able to free-range chickens around our farm... or will whatever got them always be back.... Is there something we can do to help avoid this? My husband build a really secure coop and area for them but we don't use any additional electric fencing....

2) any suggestions on the best way to get going with a new flock? I was planning on getting more chicks in the Spring.....

My condolence.
First, there is a lesson here to be learned by you as well as by your children. That lesson is that ALL predators are opportunistic. That means that when given the opportunity almost anything with fangs, or talons like to kill and eat your chickens before you get around to eating them yourself.

A standard agriculture style electric fence is a good way to make your chickens safer but nothing will ever make a chicken coop, pen, run, yard, or walk 100% predator proof all of the time. Free ranging went out of style 100 to 150 years ago partly because of losses like you just experienced. Before then farmers fenced in ALL of their crops and allowed ALL of their livestock to roam freely around the countryside. Now-a-days we do it opposite from how it was done back in the mid 1800s.

 

[Orps4life]

I had an Aussie and she died from nature. I highly recommend Murray mcmurray if or when u get New ones. So sorry for your loss.

 

[Naser]

Welcome to BYC forum
Sorry for your loss
Hopefully you get your replacement soon
Don't free range for a month or two
I use this automatic door opener, I bought the door from them as well, I have for 3 years, it works very well

https://www.chickenguard.com/product/extreme/

 

[Amy Kurtenbach]

We brought home 6 new laying hens a little over a week ago - 3 Welsummers and 3 Americauna. They obviously were skittish of us and didn't have the friendly and curious personalities that the ones we raised from chicks did but we were hoping they would come around. Our plan was to keep them in the coop for a couple of weeks and then only let them out under close supervision while we attempt to trap the predator, which we now believe is a raccoon.

Unfortunately, four nights after bringing them home, the predator managed to get into the coop, which we thought was very secure but appears to have found an area of the chicken wire seam on top that it was able to squeeze between. In the morning, I found 2 of the hens dead, 2 injured and 2 traumatized. We have since moved the 2 uninjured chickens into a new stronger coop that my husband just finished building and they are still scared but doing ok. I feel that they are safe in there.

I tried everything I read on this site to save the two injured chickens. One, an Americauna, had a bite to the head and the stomach but I thought it had the strongest chance of survival because it was at least standing up but doing a speechless baulk. We brought them inside and kept them in separate dog crates near one another. I gave them water through a syringe. The Americauna spastically died suddenly in my arms when I was feeding it.

The other one, a Welsummer we named Fuerte, is a bit of a mystery. She only appeared to have a bit injury on her head but I suspect she also had internal injuries. She hung on until this morning. When we first found her, she could only open one eye but I cleaned it with saline and an eye ointment for chickens and she was alert with both eyes open but quiet and couldn't stand. She had movement on both legs and could pick herself up, if needed, but would soon topple over on to her side or face first so she mostly just laid there on her side. I was giving her water for a couple of days through a syringe by wetting her beak and she would take some but had no interest in food. She did have some bowl movements, which were pretty runny. I tried baby food last night as well as baby vitamins (Poly-vi-sol) but she would only take a little of both. I held her in my arms while I watched TV and she seemed comforted. When I found her dead this morning, her bowls had released and she was really smelly. Gross, I know, but I'm trying to figure out what had happened to her and what we could have done differently to save her. Any ideas?

Now, that we have the two remaining chickens in a safe coop that is nice and warm with a large run, I'm going to pick up four more from the same farm and will probably keep them in the coop and run throughout the winter. I'd really like to catch whatever is attacking my chicks but we haven't had luck yet.