-sigh- NOW 4 losses in 4 days =(

[Hay]

Two days ago, a sprightly little americana ran away, but I found it(not sure about sex) and put it back. We keep our chicks in a cage at night, and let them outside for a few minutes on hot days. All 15 chicks were in the cage, and after coming back from shopping, one of them was missing. It was the same americana who probably slipped through the cage bars. The mille du fleurs escaped, too, but they stay near the cage, so it is easy to find them.

Poor americana. Out first loss.

Next, a blue bantam silkie died today. He was very small when he came in the mail, and yesterday was half the size of the other blue silkie chick my family had. That poor little one my sister named Spok. He was so cute, yet so weak. This picture is of Spok.

And today, my excited friend came to my house again to see the chicks. She came yesterday, and became fond of a mille de fleur. She is blind to the other chicks. So today, when she opened the door of the porch to get the chicks inside the house and put them in a cage, she accidentally stepped on a guinea keet.

The poor keet! It started struggling, and it flapped its wings and got a puffy black eye.

My friend! How could she! Didn't she know to be careful? Bah, ever since I knew her, she was an active and reckless(and sometimes mean) type. My sister told her to move slow, but stepped on the keet anyway. Maybe she shouldn't of worn flip flops.

The keet died shortly after being stepped on.

I am now so mad at my friend, even if it was an accident. She's not completely innocent. She was the one who stepped on the guinea. I WANT TO SHOUT AT HER RIGHT NOW!

Now our family is down to 12 chicks. Gah, I don't want my friend to come to my house anymore, but she has to, since my older sister is responsible for being a temporary guardian for her(yah, she's slightly younger than me, yet old enough to know to be slow and careful around chicks!!!!!!)

I guess having chicks is too exciting for her. I am planning to not let my friend be near chicks anymore for a long amount of time. What are your guys opinions on what I should do?

I am so sad and angry.

Sorry for this long rant about my 'friend'. Here is a pic of the keet:

 

[cochinbantam-lover]

I am so sorry about your babies, I can understand you being so upset!! I think I would be too!

 

[acbear93]

Oh, how sad...so sorry for your lost babies...its hard when people come to see your animals, if they are not around them all the time, they dont understand how to behave around them...they dont understand they are more then just egg machines to you, its like they are your pets, part of the family, you love them and care about them...I am sure your friend feels bad about it...surely it was an accident, time will heal...

 

[mjdtexan]

Sorry to hear about your loss. I lost 3 recently. I lost them in about a two week span. I was ultra hot hear. They kept getting injured on a sliver of wood that was sticking up near their water dispensers and it took me a while to catch it. It was weird really, their feet were getting injured but it was killing them after a couple of days.

Are you gonna replace your losses? I am going to order 20 more next month.

 

[Hay]

I just lost another one today! It was a white silkie named Connie! We found her dead without a head in the garden. I can't believe it! My older sister let her down.

 

[acbear93]

Sounds like a racoon or something, are they free ranging? Do you have a secure place to put them to keep them safe? How old are they? Do they have a mama hen to look after them? If not, maybe I would suggest keeping them in for a bit longer until they are big enough to fend for themselves...just dont want you to lose any more...

So sorry for your loss, I am sure it is very frustrating....

 

[Hay]

My sister lets the 1 week old chicks out during the day and watches all of them. When their time is done, we take the chicks, put them in a cage, and put the cage inside the house with a heat lamp.

It's pretty hot during the afternoon, which is why my sis lets the chicks out. what I'm really worried about is that she leaves them on their own for a bit sometimes. And my sister who is older than me is responsible for the chicks. I try to watch them when I can, but I don't always know when my sister stops watching them.

The chicks are brooder chicks(kinda), with no mama hen. But the white silkie incident is the first time a chick died by an attack.

When I am watching the chicks with my sister, and the chicks wander into the garden full of big, leafy plants, I always worry. What if i can't find them in the jumbo mix of plants? What if one of them finds a way to wander into the neighbor's yard? What if some of them don't respond when I call them?

My sister keeps telling me the chicks will be fine, but I was and still very skeptical about that. And now, I think she might be, too.

 

[xoxoAnny]

(This is Hay's sister.) The babies were outside in the afternoon and I was actually with them watching/playing with them. There was a big commotion, frantic cheeping, and four chicks came running to me. The last time I heard anything like that was when they freaked out about a bumble bee flying past them. I didn't see anything so passed them off meeting chipmunk or something. It wasn't until I was feeding them a treat maybe 20 minutes later that I counted 11 instead of the usual 12 so I put them all back in their cage and started looking for Connie, but couldn't hear her cheeping. Me and Diana looked everywhere for her, until I checked the spot they had been spooked, and found upon closer examination--a little fuzzball lying by some brambles, the flies giving it away. I buried her so they would stop bothering her.

I believe it was a cat-- the head was completely gone but the body was still there and it was a bloody mess where the neck was. Raccoons do live in our area but generally don't come out until nighttime. We have trapped an opossum once too, but I think they're nocturnal as well.

It was terrible, I feel horrible and it was my fault for letting them get too far from my sight. We keep the chicks indoors at night, and it looks like I'm not going to let them outside in the daytime anymore. At least not without some sort of fence or something, no matter how much they beg to play outside.

Don't think we will be replacing them, we already have way more than previously planned. We're in a suburb and I was originally only gonna order two from mypetchicken.com, but then it became five, and then I found out I could order 12 for about the same price at ideal-poultry.com and then they sent us 16 (extras were supposidly roos for warmth during shipping). They were all really cute. Connie was just the sweetest thing.

 

[eggsrcool]

Sorry to hear this. I lost 3 quail chicks in less than 24 hours

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