Red alert. Huge bird losses. Please help!

[deepbluesea]

Hello there! First, I'm sorry for your dad's and your losses. Hard stuff. Next, the Fort Knox method is the way to go. Good advice from the experts. What I may be able to add is about dealing with an aging parent who is having a hard time with their new reality.
With my mom (nothing involving chickens--she thinks I'm weird)-- the best thing is to talk to her about the old days, then talk about good times/things, then work your way into questions that elicit the answers you want. Obviously you know your dad, I'm just offering an idea learned the hard way. Best of luck.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! I hope that you and your dad can move forward and have better success this year.
Mary

 

[drumstick diva]

I hope after seeing the padlock that your neighbor(with a problem) won't resort to other methods of gaining things to sell from your property. A game cam would be a great idea in case of??? so you would have proof for the police. THAT really makes me that a neighbor is causing you grief also.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

I just spent 129.00 on Amazon for a 4 camera system. It's hooked to an old pc monitor in my kitchen and loop records continuously. If anything happens here I'll have a record of it. Simple diy install. I'm finding useful things about it. Did I leave a stall door ajar? Can check from the app while shopping.
The peace of mind is worth way more than I paid.

 

[Howard E]

Question for OP Jasmine........

When you say 300 birds.......what type and for what purpose? That is well beyond any sort of hobby or incidental effort. That sounds a small end commercial flock.

Where you go to from here depends on a couple things. One being a desire to keep this up.......but without the losses. The other is how long do you think dad will be able to do this?

You need to make some serious upgrades in your housing. Question then becomes is it worth it to do so? If only for this year or the next.....probably not. For 10 years or more.....maybe. And what will become of this when he is no longer able or interested in chickens?

As for the losses......300 birds......or even half that many......don't die in one massive kill off. Not by predators. Disease will do that.......poison or bad air will do that. Nothing but humans or space aliens would cause 300 birds to vanish all at once......and I don't think Scotty beamed them all up for Sunday fried chicken on the Enterprise.