they're all dead, all 11

frizzleman74

Chirping
9 Years
Aug 10, 2010
233
1
99
Fairfield County
i went outside this morning to feed my 6 week old babies that are in my 5 ft run (no top) in a dog cage. The dog cage was connected to a little play penn for them to run around in with wire on the top. I go outside this morning and they are all dead, 1/2 missing and half there with one of their heads off and the rest have just been opened up, i found my favorite silkies feet on the outside of their pen which gives me no hope that any are still alive. These were my 1st batch of chicks. I just balled my eyes out all morning. These have been my pride and joy for the past 6 weeks. What the hell could have gotten over a 5 ft fence and then into the pen. There was no dig marks and it didnt look like there was any struggle to get in, everything looked as if it did the night before except for the dead bodies. I was just going to put the roof to my run on this weekend. This is massacre makes me question if i wunna raise these babies again. I got them as day old chicks, and now i had to see them all bloody and dead. What do i even do? How have you guys gotten over this, its going to be soo hard for me!
 
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I am so sorry for your loss. Sending you lot's of hugs.
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Sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately there is no learning curve for raising chickens. I have lost a lot over my years of raising them and each time I learned a little more about how to protect them from the predators in my area. Everyone's set up is different what works for some does not work for others. It sounds like it was a coon. They can climb just about anything and they will everything just to kill it. My advice before you get more would be to cover the pen and bury a hardware cloth apron around the bottom so nothing can dig in. Also run hardware cloth around the pen as well if they holes are big enough something could reach in and grab one of your birds.
 
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So sorry for your loss. I have experienced something similar but with the neighbors Jack Russell.
If you want to try again, there are great ideas here on how to build your coop where predators will not get in.
SOunds like a raccoon or possum. Again, so sorry for your loss.
 
so sorry
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it does sound like a raccoon. take some time to grieve, then devote yourself to making a fort knox chicken coop/run. when you're sure that no raccoon can get in or reach in (they can get through normal chicken wire, btw) maybe by then you'll be ready to bring in some new little ones.
 
I really empathize! We lost our whole flock back in December.
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All you can do is learn from it and try to make everything as predator proof as possible in the future.
 
so sorry to hear about your loss.. predators are very resourceful. If any part of your coop or run is uncovered then a predator sees that as an open invitation. Our coop was covered, but not tightly.. so we lost some hens several months ago. I got advise on here and reinforced everything.. so no problems since then
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I know you are grieving for the lost chickens.. but I advise getting some more -- just safeguard

Shelly
 

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