Texas

[jesirose]

I posted in the predator thread. I can't imagine what is strong enough to tear a hole in the welded wire, but small enough to fit through that hole. They say coyote or fox. We found a teeny bit of red fur.

 

[Cockle-Dood]

Ive had experience with a friggin boston terrier doing that! Sorry for your loss, i hope u get whatever it was!

 

[chickletteSarge]

Sounds like someone needs to set a trap or 10!!! Fox... Its what's fer dinner! Coyotes.... They do chicken right! So I will shoot them in the FACE!!!

 

[jesirose]

I'm ready to give up at this point. My husband wants to try to build something else. I'm too devastated right now to think about it. If we put the time, energy and money into building something else, only to lose the rest of them, I don't know what I'll do.

 

[yinepu]

We are having a very bad week. We just lost 6 chickens to a predator. 2 more are badly injured, one I'm sure I will have to put down (my husband thinks she will make it so we are waiting.)

I'm devastated.

Sorry to hear about your birds.. Don't give up on the wounded ones yet. i have seen chickens live with a wing ripped off
Just depends on infection and how stubborn the bird is

I posted in the predator thread. I can't imagine what is strong enough to tear a hole in the welded wire, but small enough to fit through that hole. They say coyote or fox. We found a teeny bit of red fur.

probably a fox. By welded wire do you mean hardware cloth? If so don't trust it.. I have found that a coyote, fox and especially dog can tear right through it with little effort. It seems to work well against most smaller preds and medium to small raccoons.. but not stronger types like canids

Sounds like someone needs to set a trap or 10!!! Fox... Its what's fer dinner! Coyotes.... They do chicken right! So I will shoot them in the FACE!!!

I never shoot them in the face... I like to keep the skulls (but I'm weird like that)

I'm ready to give up at this point. My husband wants to try to build something else. I'm too devastated right now to think about it. If we put the time, energy and money into building something else, only to lose the rest of them, I don't know what I'll do.

Before you go to the expense of building / repairing.. find out what predator you are dealing with so you can build to keep them out. Otherwise it's just throwing money away if you don't take into consideration the critters you are protecting against

 

[jesirose]

The wounded one is doing a bit better. She limps when she walks but at least now she's moving around. No blood, no open wounds, just a lot of missing feathers and some scratches so maybe it's not as bad as I thought.

 

[jesirose]

I gave her a carton of yogurt, she ate a few bites worth. Poor thing is covered in fire ants, the spot she hid was infested with them. I washed her off with warm water but can't get them all.

 

[Cockle-Dood]

wish i could help!

 

[Heidisgran]

I am so sorry to hear about this...actually made me tear up!! I hope you figure out what got in!!

I'm glad your little girl isn't as bad as you first thought poor baby!

 

[jesirose]

Thanks guys. My husband is really upset too. It's weird, having the farm has always been my dream but now he's the one who wants to keep trying. He's mad that something got into something he built.

At some point it's really not worth it. I sell my eggs for $4 a dozen and I wanted to eventually sell chicks, but my expenses are already $160+ a month - and we got all our lumber for free. We loved having a few hens and will probably always keep a few where we can keep them safe but this arrangement just isn't working out.