lucye

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lucye

lucye

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6 Years
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Nov 8, 2013
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Hi everyone,

We got our girls in the summer, never had chooks before, but we love them to bits. My children let them free range when they get in from school and then lock them in the coop at 5.30 for the night. 3 days a week they free range all day when we are at home. Last night we couldn't find my daughter's chicken, the other 2 were in bed. It was only 5.30 & my daughter had been feeding them at 4.30. We found our lovely Amber chicken killed by a fox. We are all very upset.
The other 2 girls have stayed in their nest box all day and don't seem to have ate much at all. They couldn't be coaxed into the garden. Are they in shock? Any advice about what to do, would be appreciated.
 
The loss of a flock mate can be upsetting to chickens, Out food and water close to them and give them a couple days.
 
Shock is a good word, fear would also be appropriate. Since Foxy now knows where he can get a free chicken dinner, I would suggest keeping the girls penned for a few days. Are you able to fence off an area where they can free-range safely?? If not, I'm afraid the free-ranging is going to have to be supervised either by the kids or you.
When I first started free-ranging my girls, it was supervised only. We did have a couple of foxes cruise by but the dogs chased them off. If you have dogs that you can trust with the chicks, they'll do a nice job of keeping predators away.
Sorry about your chook - it's always sad to lose one, Sue
sad.png
 
Thanks for the advice Sue. Yes, we'll keep them penned for a while. My husband is building a large walk in run as we don't want this happening again.
 
Hello :frow and Welcome to BYC! Sorry about the loss of your girl.
 
Thanks for your warm welcomes everyone. We are in South East, England & it gets dark early now over here.Our two girls are fine today, eating and back to normal. We'll get more girls when the large roofed run my husband is building is finished. We are on the outskirts of town with a high urban fox population.
 

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