Lost my whole flock

[WhatsUpDuck]

Also we have two eggs that we are waiting to hatch from our first flock! Our friend we buy our chickens from took the two eggs we had and put them under a broody hen she has that we were buying anyway! They are due this weekend! I'm trying to not get to excited, because we all know a lot can happen with hatching.

LORD JESUS IS KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!

 

[WhatsUpDuck]

PRAISE LORD JESUS OUR CHICKS HATCHED! One is a positive hatch, but she is pretty sure both of them hatched! LORD willing we will get to go see them Monday when we pick up eggs! I'm so so excited! Our children are so excited! The one she saw is black with fuzzy legs and five toes! Here is a picture of the Mama we are pretty sure! This is a picture of when we first got her I'm pretty sure. She was all black with a pale black/purple comb.

Now the Roo is either the grey silkie Peanut or the multicolored black one who was Bart who was the head rooster.

Side note our flock now is never allowed alone in their run. I won't risk it after losing these guys. I miss them a lot!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

You don't leave them alone in their run? Does this mean they have to stay in the coop if you are not there to supervise? What happened to the ones you lost? Can you tighten security on your run so your birds will be safe there?

 

[WhatsUpDuck]

As of right now they aren't allowed in the run without one of us there. Yes they are in a coop. It is NOT one of those tiny box coops! We are planning on securing the run like the coop!! We have to save for our run to be secure. We NEVER had an issue with our first flock being outside in their run. I know we had a risk though with air predators, but they have not swooped down in our yard. We do have six cats I don't know if that matters. But I want hardware cloth all the way around the run which would be six, feet high or so. We lost our first flock to a mink or weasle Our coop is very secure now, but our run makes me very afraid to let them out. I am all ears for any tips to make the run safe!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

As of right now they aren't allowed in the run without one of us there. Yes they are in a coop. It is NOT one of those tiny box coops! We are planning on securing the run like the coop!! We have to save for our run to be secure. We NEVER had an issue with our first flock being outside in their run. I know we had a risk though with air predators, but they have not swooped down in our yard. We do have six cats I don't know if that matters. But I want hardware cloth all the way around the run which would be six, feet high or so. We lost our first flock to a mink or weasle Our coop is very secure now, but our run makes me very afraid to let them out. I am all ears for any tips to make the run safe!

Aw, that must have been terrible. I'm so sorry, I can't even imagine. I understand you're doing all you can to keep them safe. Blessings to you.

 

[McChooky]

As of right now they aren't allowed in the run without one of us there. Yes they are in a coop. It is NOT one of those tiny box coops! We are planning on securing the run like the coop!! We have to save for our run to be secure. We NEVER had an issue with our first flock being outside in their run. I know we had a risk though with air predators, but they have not swooped down in our yard. We do have six cats I don't know if that matters. But I want hardware cloth all the way around the run which would be six, feet high or so. We lost our first flock to a mink or weasle Our coop is very secure now, but our run makes me very afraid to let them out. I am all ears for any tips to make the run safe!

I realize everyone can't have a dog but I already had 2 when I got my chickens so I trained both of mine. Having a good dog to watch your chickens is the next best thing to being there yourself.Dogs are mans best friend and sometimes chickens.I built my coop inside the fenced yard and the dogs have full access to all 4 sides of the coop

 

[McChooky]

I'm so upset and can't stop crying I came out to our coop to our whole flock slaughtered by probably a mink. I'm so upset..I know it's my fault for not having it as secured as I wanted..we have had our chickens for months with no problems..we are just going to have to do with out to afford better hardwire cloth..My poor roosters did such a great job you can tell they were defending the girls..the stupid animal just killed for sport not even to eat them for food..they just took some of the heads, and killed the rest. I would feel at least a little better if I knew something was just hungry and needed to feed its babies..but this was just vicious. Sorry guys I just needed to vent. I'm just so sad.

LORD JESUS IS KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS

If you don't have a camera how do you know it was a mink or weasel? There are other predators that will kill the whole flock and Foxes are one of them.Whatever killed your chickens will be back.Please be aware of this and keep your chickens locked up until you have a secure run for them.Foxes are excellent diggers too.You will need an apron around the bottom to keep them out

 

[McChooky]

They are doing great! Thanks for asking! They are settling in just fine. It's harder for me and the kids because we miss our old flock. With time I'm sure it will get better. They are starting to come around, and being friendly. It is just different. My husband has wrapped it with hardware cloth from the bottom up! We are constantly looking for weak spots! It's been about two weeks since I've seen anything. I have heard the rooster crow before sun up and I let the dog out just in case. But we've not caught anything yet! My husband thinks we will probably need to order the lure. We did see a coyote on the other side of our property on our trail cam, but it wasn't that big guy that got in!

LORD JESUS IS KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS!

I hope your husband used the good stuff.These companies are dishonest who advertise it and if you're unfamiliar with it you can be bamboozled into buying the wrong thing.I ordered some 1" x 1" hw cloth that was supposed to be galvanized steel off of Temu.Its a joke.The fence staples cuts it into when you hammer it in.I had to use a regular staple gun to secure it to the catios.It will keep my cats safe while they're outside in their catios but it definitely wouldn't work on a chicken coop

 

[WhatsUpDuck]

He bought 1/2 inch galvanized steel. It was off of amazon, and it had good reviews (not sure that matters ), and he did an apron all the way around it. We have a camera in the coop now and ones pointing to all of the sides. We did not have cameras at the time this happened. My guess was a mink or a weasel only God truly knows, but the small opening they got into doesn't seem like it would be a fox. We do have minks/weasels in our area. Sadly I will never know what really happened, but I don't think that sad image is going to leave my mind.

 

[WhatsUpDuck]

We have a dog but she is our family pet and wasn't trained to protect the chickens but she does really like them! I let her out right before dawn in the mornings now. I know that isn't a 100 percent protection from anything, but one more layer can't hurt! I would love to get a dog to train for outside around our whole coop. I've talked to my husband about it and it maybe something we do. I would want to train it from a pup up and be able to get it spayed/neutered and it costs a lot so I don't want to take that on until we could afford it.