- Jul 4, 2013
- 11
- 1
- 69
Hello everyone,
I am a mother of a 4h'r that has been successfully raising egg laying chickens for a year and a half. I've helped him every step of the way from the beginning and have become very attached to these girls! He keeps them at his dad's house (which is a 2 acre farmstead in the country with outbuildings). His 15 chickens free range from morning to dusk when they come back to their coop. He only lost one young chicken at the very start that just disappeared.
My son is currently away for the weekend with his grandmother. During a 2-hour time period when his dad was away from home, something kind of drastic happened. His dad returned home and all 15 chickens were gone and there was just a trail of a lot of feathers. He called me and I got there and called the chickens for 2 hours. Most of them emerged from a cornfield ok. I found one buff orphington (sp?) in a blackberry bush. It was very injured with a big gash between it's wings. Later I found another bo who squeezed into the barn limping severely with the only thing I can describe as a really messed up rear end. I called up the local farm vet (4th of July evening) who said there is not much he can do but we should separate them from the flock, give water and hope for the best. We are still missing one or two chickens. One of the Rhode Island Reds came back looking fine and then just fell over on her side and appears to be on her way out. We put her in a box in a separate barn. She was generally an aggressor. The vet I talked to said this was not an attack from a hawk or raccoon because the chickens would not have gotten away. He suggested it was a cat or maybe they attacked each other. But really? We are still missing one or two so that would mean whatever got to these chickens has potentially knocked out 5 chickens.
I am brokenhearted and don't know how I'm going to tell my son about this. And frankly I don't know what to do with the injured birds that are in the coop (in a separate cage). I really hoped they could see a vet tonight but he didn't think a visit would be beneficial. I guess I could put them in a carrier and take them in tomorrow but he seemed to indicate there is little they can do.
Does anyone have any idea what might have happened and suggestions for taking care of the injured ones? I need to let them out tomorrow and don't want to lose more!
Thanks for any suggestions you can provide.
I am a mother of a 4h'r that has been successfully raising egg laying chickens for a year and a half. I've helped him every step of the way from the beginning and have become very attached to these girls! He keeps them at his dad's house (which is a 2 acre farmstead in the country with outbuildings). His 15 chickens free range from morning to dusk when they come back to their coop. He only lost one young chicken at the very start that just disappeared.
My son is currently away for the weekend with his grandmother. During a 2-hour time period when his dad was away from home, something kind of drastic happened. His dad returned home and all 15 chickens were gone and there was just a trail of a lot of feathers. He called me and I got there and called the chickens for 2 hours. Most of them emerged from a cornfield ok. I found one buff orphington (sp?) in a blackberry bush. It was very injured with a big gash between it's wings. Later I found another bo who squeezed into the barn limping severely with the only thing I can describe as a really messed up rear end. I called up the local farm vet (4th of July evening) who said there is not much he can do but we should separate them from the flock, give water and hope for the best. We are still missing one or two chickens. One of the Rhode Island Reds came back looking fine and then just fell over on her side and appears to be on her way out. We put her in a box in a separate barn. She was generally an aggressor. The vet I talked to said this was not an attack from a hawk or raccoon because the chickens would not have gotten away. He suggested it was a cat or maybe they attacked each other. But really? We are still missing one or two so that would mean whatever got to these chickens has potentially knocked out 5 chickens.
I am brokenhearted and don't know how I'm going to tell my son about this. And frankly I don't know what to do with the injured birds that are in the coop (in a separate cage). I really hoped they could see a vet tonight but he didn't think a visit would be beneficial. I guess I could put them in a carrier and take them in tomorrow but he seemed to indicate there is little they can do.
Does anyone have any idea what might have happened and suggestions for taking care of the injured ones? I need to let them out tomorrow and don't want to lose more!
Thanks for any suggestions you can provide.
