Dawnica
Chirping
- Aug 13, 2015
- 19
- 16
- 69
Get chickens, they said.
It will be easy and fun, they said.
Those people never had a murder-suicide in their flock.
So we got 8 mixed breed hens at 16 weeks of age, and a lovely 12' x 4' tractor with the coop upstairs, which we move daily. Everything went flawlessly for about 2 months until we started letting them out in the evenings for a little supervised chicken playtime. Actually, everyone but the dog was enjoying this. The poor dog got tied up since he really wants chicken dinner. The boss hen, a white leghorn named Winter, went CRAZY about going out. She wanted out all day every day, who cares about the stupid dog just LET. ME. OUT!
Then we went away for a week... My chicken sitter was over every day, and moved the tractor and gave them scratch and apples and such. Then the sweetest hen mysteriously and suddenly died. It was described to me over the phone as "a hole in her belly like she was going into the oven". We had no idea what it could have been. We brought two sad children home to only seven hens.
Fast forward three days. We let the girls out late, and they had not been out at all the day before, and the kids came running in to tell me one was hurt. I went out to see that Tissy was missing a bunch of skin on her underbelly. We doctored her up, looked for mites, scoured the internet, made her her own little run and crossed our fingers. She was missing a patch of skin about 3" x 4"!
The next day we again were gone most of the day. I walked out to the coop to see the white leghorn COVERED in blood! Then I saw her chasing Aukie around, and guess who had a huge hole in her butt. I put Winter in solitary confinement and tried to doctor Aukie. The hole was so big her breastbone was exposed. I again scoured the internet and decided to try to sew her up. I still can't believe I did it. I followed the directions of a great article I found here on BYC. It looked pretty good, but since she was already woozy when I found her I didn't think she would make it through the night. That was a week ago and she is out rummaging through the asparagus as I type!
It turns out, Winter really didn't want to be in solitary confinement! She apparently threw herself at the walls all night long. The next morning she was on death's doorstep. She had beat herself up so bad that she had no feathers on her neck, one eye was swollen up, and she was having a hard time breathing. We gave her electrolytes and nursed her much of the day, but by the evening the poor girl couldn't even stand, so my daughter (Winter was hers) decided it was best to cull her. That was even harder than sewing up a live chicken.
Now, after more than a week of doctoring Tissy and Aukie, today it was clear that Aukie has necropsy of the skin around the 6 inch strip I sewed up. About 2" x 3" is turning black. Both chickens are acting fine, eating, running and flapping, even laying the occasional egg, but I think their chicken days are numbered. We decided this afternoon to rename our "hospital", now it is a hospice. I think it is possible to save Aukie, but I just don't have it in me to cut away the dead flesh and try sewing again. Tissy is also in big trouble. I did not sew her up, and by the time I figured out sutures was something I could do it was too late. She has gaping holes up into her chest cavity, and it's pretty clear now that skin will never cover her underside again. It is a sad situation. Unfortunately I live out in the country, where people don't get attached to chickens. There isn't a vet within a hundred miles who will treat a chicken. They do like to have a good laugh when you call and ask, though.
I don't think there is anything I can do, so I don't really have any questions, but I thought maybe someone would benefit from our crazy chicken incident. I have yet to talk to another person who experienced anything like it, and I know a lot of chicken people. Maybe this will help someone else. Be careful about changing the routine if you have a particularly aggressive hen like Winter was. She stripped three chickens of belly skin in a few hours each. I'm sure others were pecking too once there was a hole, but now that she has been gone a week everyone has happy fuzzy butts.
I am planning on letting Tissy and Aukie keep doing their chicken thing as long as they don't show signs of feeling bad. If you don't look underneath you would never know they are missing parts. I plan on culling them at the first sign of distress. It will be sad to only have 4 chickens, especially since it was our favorite four we have lost! We went from 6-8 eggs a day to only 2-3, since we also lost our best layers.
Thanks for reading about our crazy chicken murder-suicide! I am emotionally drained from all the chicken drama, on top of some regular life stuff. I have admitted to my husband that I regret getting chickens, and I hate to say it, but that is how I feel right now. Both kids (10 and 12) have been great help, and they do not regret getting chickens, but maybe regret choosing Winter...
It will be easy and fun, they said.
Those people never had a murder-suicide in their flock.
So we got 8 mixed breed hens at 16 weeks of age, and a lovely 12' x 4' tractor with the coop upstairs, which we move daily. Everything went flawlessly for about 2 months until we started letting them out in the evenings for a little supervised chicken playtime. Actually, everyone but the dog was enjoying this. The poor dog got tied up since he really wants chicken dinner. The boss hen, a white leghorn named Winter, went CRAZY about going out. She wanted out all day every day, who cares about the stupid dog just LET. ME. OUT!
Then we went away for a week... My chicken sitter was over every day, and moved the tractor and gave them scratch and apples and such. Then the sweetest hen mysteriously and suddenly died. It was described to me over the phone as "a hole in her belly like she was going into the oven". We had no idea what it could have been. We brought two sad children home to only seven hens.
Fast forward three days. We let the girls out late, and they had not been out at all the day before, and the kids came running in to tell me one was hurt. I went out to see that Tissy was missing a bunch of skin on her underbelly. We doctored her up, looked for mites, scoured the internet, made her her own little run and crossed our fingers. She was missing a patch of skin about 3" x 4"!
The next day we again were gone most of the day. I walked out to the coop to see the white leghorn COVERED in blood! Then I saw her chasing Aukie around, and guess who had a huge hole in her butt. I put Winter in solitary confinement and tried to doctor Aukie. The hole was so big her breastbone was exposed. I again scoured the internet and decided to try to sew her up. I still can't believe I did it. I followed the directions of a great article I found here on BYC. It looked pretty good, but since she was already woozy when I found her I didn't think she would make it through the night. That was a week ago and she is out rummaging through the asparagus as I type!
It turns out, Winter really didn't want to be in solitary confinement! She apparently threw herself at the walls all night long. The next morning she was on death's doorstep. She had beat herself up so bad that she had no feathers on her neck, one eye was swollen up, and she was having a hard time breathing. We gave her electrolytes and nursed her much of the day, but by the evening the poor girl couldn't even stand, so my daughter (Winter was hers) decided it was best to cull her. That was even harder than sewing up a live chicken.
Now, after more than a week of doctoring Tissy and Aukie, today it was clear that Aukie has necropsy of the skin around the 6 inch strip I sewed up. About 2" x 3" is turning black. Both chickens are acting fine, eating, running and flapping, even laying the occasional egg, but I think their chicken days are numbered. We decided this afternoon to rename our "hospital", now it is a hospice. I think it is possible to save Aukie, but I just don't have it in me to cut away the dead flesh and try sewing again. Tissy is also in big trouble. I did not sew her up, and by the time I figured out sutures was something I could do it was too late. She has gaping holes up into her chest cavity, and it's pretty clear now that skin will never cover her underside again. It is a sad situation. Unfortunately I live out in the country, where people don't get attached to chickens. There isn't a vet within a hundred miles who will treat a chicken. They do like to have a good laugh when you call and ask, though.
I don't think there is anything I can do, so I don't really have any questions, but I thought maybe someone would benefit from our crazy chicken incident. I have yet to talk to another person who experienced anything like it, and I know a lot of chicken people. Maybe this will help someone else. Be careful about changing the routine if you have a particularly aggressive hen like Winter was. She stripped three chickens of belly skin in a few hours each. I'm sure others were pecking too once there was a hole, but now that she has been gone a week everyone has happy fuzzy butts.
I am planning on letting Tissy and Aukie keep doing their chicken thing as long as they don't show signs of feeling bad. If you don't look underneath you would never know they are missing parts. I plan on culling them at the first sign of distress. It will be sad to only have 4 chickens, especially since it was our favorite four we have lost! We went from 6-8 eggs a day to only 2-3, since we also lost our best layers.
Thanks for reading about our crazy chicken murder-suicide! I am emotionally drained from all the chicken drama, on top of some regular life stuff. I have admitted to my husband that I regret getting chickens, and I hate to say it, but that is how I feel right now. Both kids (10 and 12) have been great help, and they do not regret getting chickens, but maybe regret choosing Winter...
