My hens are gone. RIP, my beautiful friends.

[horsefeathers09]

Soooo sorry for your loss, but please don't be so hard on yourself! Your not a bad mommy. You have now learned to arm yourself from the cruel ways of nature. Luckily you are smarter than every single predator out there - now go work on provin' it dear. Every hole, every crack, no matter how small - fix it! That's part of chicken keeping, you get to play in the dirt and learn how to use tools! Get busy...then start over!
PS- Girls best friend, zip ties!

 

[gwennym]

4acrebliss, my condolences.

I recently lost a white goose that was just an egg in the incubator in early spring -- my fault. I didn't close them up early enough and a coyote (most likely) grabbed it and ran.

Then, a hen, just barely a pullet, was nabbed inside the run.

Third, my broody hen, Charlotte, and 6 of 7 chicks were grabbed inside the coop -- not much was left of Charlotte (they tried to bring her through some woven wire) and I only found 3 of the 6 chick corpses. Looks like racoons moved a heavy paver stone away from the coop door, pushed against the door frame until the latch sprung, and in he/she went. I was glad my daughters weren't there to see that.

Finally, after fortifying the coop door and adding a new latch, the last of my original 3 hens (leftover from my FIRST chicken carnage) was killed, again, inside the coop --- this time, whatever it was (opossum, from the way the hen was killed) came in through an opening in the hardware cloth over one of the windows.

I live on 6 wooded acres surrounded by farms and fields -- there's more chicken-loving critters around me than you can shake a stick at. Now I think there's more nails in my coop and poultry house than in the rest of the pole barn, and now that I'm on critter alert, God help the critter that tries to snack on my fowl.

That first year is a tough one for us newbie chicken-raisers.

Gwen

horsefeathers09 --- Girl's #1 best friend --- a .22 rifle

 

[purpletree23]

four acre bliss......you are not a failure. Please KNOW that you aren't. Moving to the country is tough. Bad bugs and critters everywhere. Please take time for yourself and be good to yourself. You did everything you could but the critters still got in. We all learn from our mistakes and we move on as better and stronger people.

We moved to the country a year ago and do I have stories for you! We also built a coop that was Fort Knox. We even put 2 locks on the little door out to the run. We thought we had every WILD animal figured out and I think we still do. Knock on wood. Three weeks ago our neighbors Dogs chased our flock and killed one of my favorites. Dogs!

I know it doesn't seem like it right now but you will be OK. I promise.

 

[chickenwhisperer123]

Everyone makes mistakes. I killed 6 of my chicks because I forgot to latch the gate and the dog got in. Some people have to cull there flock because they didnt follow the biosecurity rules.

Some people take terrible care of their flocks and have no problems. Its the ones that care that end up feeling bad.

You are a good chicken owner to care that much about your flock, and dont give up!!
Learn from your mistakes and move forward... Dont look back.

Jason

 

[starryeyes]

I am so sorry

we have lost a ton of birds due to coons. My BYC friends all know this and have been great support and advice. Coons are sneaky and once they get a hen they come bk night after nite to kill. We lost 7 hens and one roo 2 days ago. All doors locked and girls locked in surrounded by a 8 foot fence. And last nite i heard a chicken scream . I yelled at hubby he ran out 5 coons were in the run with a hen they ran up a tree he got 3 but two got away. Today we will be removing the whole backside of the coop and putting wire all around the bottom. Dont give up the chickens are so worth the work. I will be taking money out of savings to buy electric fence and a dog LOL. My heart goes out to you i lost my silkie pair i cried for two days.

 

[Whispering Winds]

I am so sorry for your loss, coons are so cute, but such vicious killers. don't feel bad about your garden either, I have weeds, and I work out there as much as I can, and going back out tonight, because my strawberries are being choked to death by that stupid "water grass". . .get that pen fixed and get some new ladies. You won't be happy until you do. . .I am going to have my chicken house inside my Alpaca pen, and the dogs I am getting (great pyrs) are not use to chickens, so have had to figure out a system for them to free range during the day, and think I have DH convinced this is the right way to do it (keep the dogs on one side of the fence with the boys during the daylight hours and let the chicks run with the girl Alpacas on the other side and then put them up at night and let the dogs run both sides . . . I think it will work fine!) Feel better soon, and get those new ladies in there, with a roo too!!!

 

[ducks4you]

4acrebliss, I'm so sorry for your loss

EVERY loss, is hard--human relatives, and friends...

In the past year and a half I have lost:
a beloved dog (GS/Collie X) of 10 years
TW, 24 years old, owned for 5 years
Arab, 27 years old--MY FAVORITE--owned for 23 years

I replaced my Arab, "Corporal" with a 3 year old KMH (gaited) about a week afterwards. I will NEVER forget the 3 mentioned above, BUT, it's good to get new, and it does help. Livestock auctions, newpaper ads, Internet ads---birds aren't too hard to find.

But, your investment in these birds is gonna hurt, and I am sorry for it.

P. S. Don't give up on living in the country!!! The hard work keeps you in better shape, and your neighbors aren't looking into your windows at you!!!

 

[~*Sweet Cheeks*~]

4acrebliss -

Dang those STUPID and hard-headed husbands that just don't listen. SO GLAD I don't have one of those anymore.

It must be very hard, because you knew this would or could happen and he didn't listen - JERK. I'll say it for you, if you haven't already.

Like someone else said, get yourself some tools and fix that coop the right way if your husband won't or doesn't.

All you need is hardware cloth, wire cutters, and staple gun. Staple the heck out of the boarder around the window on the outside preferably and then put wood trim around on top of the border so no edges are left that could be pulled/pried up.

ALWAYS lock your chicks up at night.

You have to get more chicks or the preditors won.

If you don't want to start all over with chicks, then get started birds. That way you can still work at taming them.

I would be carefull getting older hens. Some old farmer might sell you ones that don't lay much.

Good luck to you - keep your chin up - you can't change what already happened but you can do everything you can to prevent it from happening again. Get ticked and get busy.

You go girl. I'm pulling for you.

P.S. Great lesson for other wives who have told their husbands that the coop and run need hardware cloth and not just chicken wire. One BR, BO and silkie owner comes to mind.

 

[kentislandred]

Dear FAB,

I rarely ever post to these threads but your story immediately pulled at my heart because I can totally relate, and I want to cry with you. I had the exact same situation occur in early April, although I lost only 2 of my girls and did not raise them from baby chicks. Naturally, one of them was my absolute favorite ("Maggie" - a RIR). I admit that it was my fault because I was not diligent about keeping predators out because I left the door to their house open that night (shameful!). We'd had the girls for about 18 months and nothing bad had ever happened, and as a result I (stupidly) assumed that nothing bad ever would. So dumb! We're not sure what got in the run (I suspect raccoons) but it could have been a fox or weasel since we're smack in the middle of the woods. PLEASE don't be so hard on yourself! Unfortunately we had to learn our lesson the hard way, but never in a million years did you mean for anything like that to happen! I loved my Maggie like she was a child, and I still miss her to this day. But I made a very stupid mistake, which I won't do again.

And please don't regret your move to the country. Trust me, it beats city living any day week! Although country living is not easy, I believe you will heal although you can't see that right now.

I'm sending positive vibes your way. I think you can see from all the posts to your message that you've got a lot of folks in your corner doing the same thing

 

[GaNewChick]

~*Sweet Cheeks*~ :

4acrebliss -

Dang those STUPID and hard-headed husbands that just don't listen. SO GLAD I don't have one of those anymore.

It must be very hard, because you knew this would or could happen and he didn't listen - JERK. I'll say it for you, if you haven't already.

Like someone else said, get yourself some tools and fix that coop the right way if your husband won't or doesn't.

P.S. Great lesson for other wives who have told their husbands that the coop and run need hardware cloth and not just chicken wire. One BR, BO and silkie owner comes to mind.

Your husband might have been stupid ~ but I don't think that is the case here. Your husband might have been a jerk, but again, I don't that is the case here.


Sorry this happened 4acrebliss ~ I'm sure your husband feels bad too.