my losses

[ladyride]

Well I have just had my 1st loss to predators

I lost my buff orp 8 week roo he was growing to start orp line of chickeys , lost 3 other 8 week roos that came as packing peanuts,2 buff orps that just at pol, 1 white packing peanut,&found 1 injured. The white roo hadn't sounded off in a couple hours missed dinner . Everyone else was present for dinner, did a minor coop adjustment went in the house but was facing the outside door just chatting never heard or saw a thing . Went back out to do watering there was
a strangeness with the hens just kinda noticed missing 8 weekers , did a fast head count kept coming up short .

Looked everywhere for the missing never found a feather , carcass nothing.

Known preds in the area coyote, fox, raccoon, neighboring dogs. I strongly suspect fox or coyote. Now this our fault for not putting them up when we knew roo was gone wouldn't have lost the others. But it does really dampen your spirits when it happens.

All I can say is I am grateful for not having a total loss.I think 8 is enough. That hurt from 40 we have 32 now .

.This happened from 3-6 pm. Everyone is currently in lock down in their coop, no more unsupervised free ranging , they gonna miss this.

Got 1 in chicken hospital acting kinda shocky, with bruised chest around wing area with 2 scraping type wounds. I live in the rural part of the county. Their coop & run are fort knox so they are safe from that prospective.

 

[dewey]

I'm very sorry this happened to your birds.

Chickens are very happy with a secure, roomy area or run where they are safe from the stress and destruction of predators. Glad you have that available for them.

You probably already have done this but just in case not, I'd flush the wounds & cover them, depending on how bad they are and if she's outdoors or in, with ointment or a wrap to keep flies off, cleansing the area & changing the dressing daily & provide extra heat as needed to keep her temp up, giving electrolytes and/or sugar/honey water to drink and soft foods like scrambled eggs and such until she's back up and over it. If housed indoors and with no threat of flies I'd keep it unwrapped. Chickens can overcome some pretty bad wounds and I hope yours does that just.

It's a choice everybody makes individually but I would not feel any guilt in the least over choosing to keep them in a roomy run secure from preds. They'll adjust quickly and be as happy as ever.

"Free range" to some is a totally enclosed small coop with chickens kept in cages 24/7 that only have a view of the outdoors through an open window or door, while for others it's a tiny run attached to a coop, or one that lets out to a small backyard area, or maybe an area of several acres that is used as bragging rights as "free range". We have 2000+ acre hay/cattle ranch for chickens to "free range" on there, so "free ranging" on a few acres is not what what we'd consider "free ranging" at all....free range to somebody with a few acres would not consider a tiny backyard as free range, and somebody with a tiny coop with a tiny run attached would not consider mostly caged chickens to be free ranged....point being that free ranging is relative & subjective to the individual...me, I'm all for whatever keeps the chickens happy, secure, and alive, which, for most of us, is usually a small "free range" coop or pen of a comfy size that's safe from preds.

Like you, I'd suspect the grab & run tactics of coyotes or fox. Glad your birds are locked up tight.

 

[juliawitt]

So sorry for your loss!! Nothing wrong with keeping them in a big roomy run. I only let mine out when my husband and I can be out with them. We have a glider set outside the pen. Nice time to watch the girls. My husband and I both chat or do our chores while watching the girls. Some of my special girls will sit on the glider with us. Good, quality time for my husband and I and my chicken girls. I just have too many predators to free range. I give them some scratch if the temps are going to stay below 90 degrees. I spread it out, so they have something to do. I also give them garden goodies. Kale, carrot tops, turnip greens, tomatoes, cabbage.....things they love. I have weeks and weeks of hard work involved with my girls and I'm not going to share them with predators. Good luck! Set some traps......

Here I am...they are supposed to be free ranging, but as you can see, they are more interested in having a nice swing, and visiting. They were being 'pesky' that day!

 

[ladyride]

until last evening we had felt relatively safe letting them have the 2.5 acres to roam around in eat bugs, explore the garden now that we are done with it. But now after loosing that many of our flock not feeling so safe for them. After all everything likes chicken buffet.

They will still be able to be out just not like before.

We have spoken to a good friend, who we had gotten some of his show stock hens that did not meet his color standards, about a roo for for my hens that are just pol.( we have been patiently waiting 24 weeks ) So we will be getting him this weekend.

The hens will be laying by the time he comes out of quarentine & can start mixing. I am not going to replace the packing peanuts I lost they were going to go for freezer camp when they were big enough anyway . the other loss was the 2 about to be laying hens we may or may not replace when we get to his house. I at least feel secure about his birds as he is npip & also a usda ispector. But will still quarentine as his has different germs than mine. His biosecurity measures are stringent . He was the one who taught us them which we use everyday , started when they were just baby chicks. Granted we have only been doing chickens for about a year they haven't been sick this was our 1st loss.

This sure is alot different than when our grandparents raised chickens. They let theirs roam all over the farm come back to the barn when they got ready didn't seem upset about losses. We have alot less than they did but we also can't handle the losses.
I have cleaned the one hen wounds which look really superficial & really lucky for that I suppose she will be quite sore I suspect for a few days she looks more bruised than anything. She is still in brooder box with food & water for now. I will proably put her box back out in the run in a little while so she can be around her chicken friends.

 

[kinsey228]

The same thing happened to 2 of my chickens. No sign of them. Its like they vanished. It turned out to be a fox.