RIP Phyllis 08/29/2012-05/21/2012

[cottagechick]

The chickens love to lay their eggs in Wilbur the pot bellied pigs house. I have been worried because he is so much bigger than they are...but they have seemed fine...running all over him...one of my silkies has set up her broody camp for the last week...but yesterday I found my poor Phyllis..dead...I think he may have rolled over and suffocated her...

So now my poor crazy Phyllis the Polish... is gone and I have to try to keep the silkies out of their favorite broody spot...

 

[devora]

Oh, I'm sorry you lost a beloved girl. I think it's admirable that you let the chickens have their fun.

 

[Gardeningmama]

I'm so sorry. I know how attached you can get. I was at a late dinner Saturday night, and at about 9:00 realized that I had never shut the coop. Talk about hysterical, my family thought I was nuts, but hubby rushed me home anyhow. They just couldn't realize how bad off I'd be if anything happened to them. They were fine but ironically I came home from church yesterday morning to my Brahma Roo chick dead, no apparent reason. They got to hear that scream, and have now figured out why we had to rush home the night before. I really sympathize.

 

[maryinma]

I was looking to post a similar note when I found both of yours. Sorry for your loss of chickens. It's our first time with chickens. They're 5 weeks. I ordered 4 fancy banties with the 11 Faverolles and 10 Ameraucanas to drive up the minimum of 25 from McMurray. I accepted the free exotic chick and we got a sweet tempered blue cochin bantam, the prettiest of the birds as yet. My 2 sons and daughter 11 yrs, check the birds ea. am before school and dicovered him behind the feed barrel in the coop today still warm. My daughter had come in to complain about an animal scratching sound on the roof earlier, probably a squirrel, that frightened the chicks. They may have panicked and all run behind the barrel and he was trampled....? I had been surfing the net Fri. pm, looking for a comparable pic to determine if he was a cockerel due to the rosy comb and wattles. We had named him Charlotte and were considering renaming him PJ for his feathery pajama waddle. He will be sorely missed by the kids. We had a family funeral in the perrenial bed and he's now covered in a pile of flowers the kids picked...poor Charlotte.

 

[Gardeningmama]

I was looking to post a similar note when I found both of yours. Sorry for your loss of chickens. It's our first time with chickens. They're 5 weeks. I ordered 4 fancy banties with the 11 Faverolles and 10 Ameraucanas to drive up the minimum of 25 from McMurray. I accepted the free exotic chick and we got a sweet tempered blue cochin bantam, the prettiest of the birds as yet. My 2 sons and daughter 11 yrs, check the birds ea. am before school and dicovered him behind the feed barrel in the coop today still warm. My daughter had come in to complain about an animal scratching sound on the roof earlier, probably a squirrel, that frightened the chicks. They may have panicked and all run behind the barrel and he was trampled....? I had been surfing the net Fri. pm, looking for a comparable pic to determine if he was a cockerel due to the rosy comb and wattles. We had named him Charlotte and were considering renaming him PJ for his feathery pajama waddle. He will be sorely missed by the kids. We had a family funeral in the perrenial bed and he's now covered in a pile of flowers the kids picked...poor Charlotte.

Mine was 4 wks. At that age they seem bigger and you almost feel like you've made it past infancy. I guess they are more delicate than I thought. I'm sorry for you too. I think the kids get over it quicker than we do.

 

[maryinma]

I looked at their 1st week pics today, they were so tiny, it feels like 3 mos. ago - they're like teenagers now! His pal crowed his 1st tonight. My daughter was thrilled! Thanks

 

[drohan]

Sorry to hear about everyone's loss. I completely understand! If I hear them getting upset, I go tearing out the door running down to the coop to see what is up. We have lost a few, mostly ones that I have not been too attached to. I had to train the donkey to leave them alone. She killed one while "protecting" her goats from the chickens. Kind of funny in a way. She was remorseful when I showed her what she had done. The worst so far has been the loss of a baby chick that one of our girls hatched out. Our first home hatched chick. One of our very OLD cats wound up getting a snack when the chick was about 4-5 weeks old. So sad for the little hen. She looked for her baby for a couple of days and kept coming up to us asking where it was. I even tried bringing home another black chick. Robin, the hen, would have none of it. She is currently brooding for the second time this year and had two fertile eggs. Hopefully she will have better luck this time around. Losing them is the only bad part about raising them.