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GotCoop said:
Welcome to BYC. How did you lose the hen? ...never mind, just read your previous post. Sorry for the loss. It happens to most of us.
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Thank you. I have lost 3 hens and my first 4 pekin hens. Its been a long and hard couple months of reality for me. My first hen I lost unexpectedly, found her in the bottom of the coop one morning. Chalked it up to old age, as I didnt know how old the hens I got from the neighbors were. Sucked, because at the time she was my favorite and most friendly hen. My second hen, Olive- the grey pictured in my avatar, was one of the 3 babies we hatched in April. Swore she was a rooster because she was very protective of the 3 and made crowing like noises... until i found her in the nesting box laying eggs! I found her half eaten one morning after returning from work. her and her sisters would greet me in the morning and want to be let out with the ducks i had at the time, so id let them out before i went to work and my wife would put them in at night. The next morning I found her outside the coop with her breast half eaten. I assume raccoons or a bird got her. My 4 pekin hens were given to me from another neighbor. They were awesome ducks, just starting to warm up to me and were about 8 months old. They free ranged and i didnt want to mess that up with what they had going on, so after a week of familiarity housing and them continually escaping their run, i let them free range totally. One morning I came home from work and they were gone. just a few piles of feathers here and there. Havent seen them since, but i did capture coyotes on trail cam nearby, so thats my guess. And you just read about my last one... she had been lethargic for a couple weeks but wasnt overly concerning, no loss of feathers, still eating and interacting ok. A couple nights before i moved her into the infirmary with my RIR that i had been treating for leg mites, and a couple of days later went out to check on her and found her dead. After closer inspection, i found that she, along with all of the birds, were covered in body mites as well.
With each loss, i learn a little more, and feel more confident that I will not make the same mistake twice. Sometimes three times.
Ryan
 
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