My heart is broken

[birdy_num_nums]

I am so sorry

It hurts so much to lose these little sweet creatures. I am in tears for you and Crumb. What adorable names, by the way.

You said you knew your chicken project would break your heart- this weekend my DH said to me as we're building my coop, "You do realize there will be some chicken loss...?" He knows how much I still miss the hens I lost a few years ago, and knows how much planning I've put into this coop in the effort to make it "predator-proof" (even though I don't think there is any such thing). His way of reminding me of the same, that chances are my heart will be broken again over some feathered friends.

Take care and be gentle with yourself :aww

 

[dixygirl]

It doesnt seem logical to me that you have to loose chickens unless something is wrong.

I have four parrots inside the house with me for over 10 years with the same predators outside. Knock on wood, they are all here at the moment.

If you have a sturdy coop and pen like your home... i would think it could be as safe as any other building. right??

Seems like a cop out to me to say ahead of time that "you know there will be losses" As if he knows he is going to be lazy and make a shoddy pen so he is preparing you for the outcome of his laziness or incompetence. Sorry if that sounds harsh... but that is how it appears to me.

There must be a way we can make these coops and pens without security gaps in them, It is not rocket science and I refuse to believe that wild predators are smarter than us humans.

Afterall... predators don't come into our houses at night so they shouldn't be able to come into a well constructed coop either.

 

[antiquebuff]

Chickens are quite a bit different than Parrots. They are exposed to much more. If a predator finds chicks in a coop outside and no one is around they will dig, chew, claw and even though we think we have done everything we can to protect them building the coop, we have to face it. The coop is not a house and does not pass inspection like our housing does that your Parrots are in.
It is sad to loose a chick but it does happen occasionally and it is not due to us building shoddy coops and being lazy. If you had to put your Parrots outside you would run the same risks with predators as we do with our chicks. Thank goodness they can stay inside, but I can't keep my 63 chicks inside!
This is just how I feel!
Still so sorry and hope Crumb is doing ok.

 

[robinaggie]

If there really was a guaranteed predator-proof enclosure for chickens, someone could make some money on the patent. In the meantime, everyone is doing the best that they can. Someone posted some photos yesterday of a chain-link fence that had been bent and opened by a predator. Predators manage to get under and through almost anything. Even if you bury the fence.

My pen is in my neighbors yard, because he built it there, and he had his dog in the house the other night. I'm going to move the pen to my yard so my dog can watch it. She has a dog door, and very good hearing.

Crumb is doing well so far. She is confused about being in the house, but she is getting to know the chicks in the brooder. I will keep the two special-needs chicks (Rufus and Sparky), and if Crumb learns to like them, she can help me take care of them. Crumb was a runt, as is Sparky, and she is growing up just fine.

 

[dixygirl]

But what if the walls were all welded wire and hardware cloth and the floors were all solid cement?

Wouldn't that make it impossible for a predator to do anything?

We have determined that a lot of people use ineffective chicken wire, pens with no roofs, pens with roofs with cracks in them like corrugated tin, pens where the wire is not nailed down to anything at the bottom so you could fold the fence UP off the ground with a little strength, pens with holes in the fencing that the owners said they would fix eventually, pens with just net roofs, pens with the wire not buried out 12 inches nor cement around, pens with wide chain link spacing and nothing smaller to cover the holes

We have discussed on here that all of these things are flaws that allow predators in. If we build on the errors of others we MUST be able to eventually build a coop that a night time predator can not get in.

Dont you think? Or does the environment defeat us?

 

[wegotchickens]

Even if you build the perfect pen, a wild bird could drop crap in the pen and expose the chickers to ANYTHING. And then there's cancer and other ailments. Nothing is perfect. You have to expect losses regardless of whether or not you build Coop-Knox.

 

[robinaggie]

I don't want my chickens on a concrete floor - I want them in the grass and the dirt. I want them to eat bugs and seeds and enjoy their lives. The pen they were in was for summer, When I build a permanent facility for my girls it will be Fort Knox - but I will still put them in a pen during the day. There are also daytime predators - like hawks - so pens need to be securely covered, but nothing is 100% secure.

I'm reading everything I can about the perfect hen house and outside run. If I build it - I'll let you know.

And as stated above - there are injuries, diseases, and other ailments that take our friends. Predators make me especially angry, because it seems that it should be a preventable loss. I'd feed the stupid raccoons if it would make them leave my friends alone!

 

[dixygirl]

Quote:
Granted, but we were talking about fixing at least the problem of allowing predators to enter. It seems like that much we CAN fix if we follow strict guidelines and don't skimp.

I read the coop design forum on here a lot and they cover a lot of these everyday errors that people continue to commit and then cry wondering why it happened.

 

[purr]

One thing that keeps your parrots safe and predators coming into your home is YOU. Now i'm not bringing chickens into my home and I'm not sleeping outside in the coop. We all do our best but If something wants to get in bad enough , it probably will and the OP's husband was just trying to prepare her. Men are like that they want to sheild us from pain, But can't always.My husband so would have said that too. And he doesn't do shabby work he is doing his best.And since I'm not that handy with a nail gun and he's been out there every night and all last weekend building the coop, I'm going to shut my mouth and be grateful.
And that's from predator's there are also losses from sickness . You can't guarantee the life of any creature.
In the immortal words of a bumper sticker I read the other day

$%!& happens!

 

[AllChookUp]

I think dixygirl is talking more about predator prevention than disease prevention. I agree with her. I have thought about this too. I am confident I did pretty much all I could to make my coop and run "predator-proof", but I still worry about predators. Granted, they're not as smart as some "humans", but they are dilligent and will keep trying, and find a way in.

As far as disease, there's only so much we can do for prevention.


I'm very sorry for your loss, Robin.