What did you do with your flock today?

[TropicalBabies]

I'm so sorry to hear about this!!! What a terrible experience for your son and the chickens.
I guess I didn't come in here early enough to know why you have some chickens that live "up the hill".

Well, the short story is that I try and go up the mountain to stay cool in the summer time and take my flock with me. It is suuuuuper nice.
On August 8th, the town where my DS lived burned down. So I picked him up from Maui and plopped him into the cabin till we sorted stuff out.
I had been staying there for a little bit inbetween family visits etc. So had my flock up, but after housing him up there, I brought half of my flock home, leaving the other half up Koke'e to keep him company, help occupy his heart, provide him eggs and something to keep his hands busy.
In January, DS moves into a new place down the mountain and in a cute town close by. So, I think tomorrow I will pack up the remaining flock of 9 (I have 2 here in recovery already) and bring them down to merge back into 1 big flock. Chickens sure keep things exciting...

 

[ChicksnMore]

Welp, all things pass, that's forsure.

Last night, I received a panicked call from my son staying up Koke'e. "A hunting dog was in the run murdering my chickens". Seems the dog snuck in before my son shut the run door for the night. My son has never experienced anything like this and was not sure if the dog would go after him, but he managed to grab a stick and get him out of the coop. Could have been a total nightmare and it is... but I only lost 2 girls, 2 wounded, ill see what i can do ♡. One is still missing but she is probably hiding in the forest. Seems making it out of the coop was a good thing. The others I found in the forest were unscathed. Spider is ok... whew!!!
I beelined up the mountain with my pellet gun but dog was long gone. It was a wet and foggy night, glad I went up to get control of the situation.
Time to bring the rest of the flock down the hill. My son feels terrible, he loves them ♡, but it happens and can and does happen to anyone. My poor babies.

I feel bad for all of you . I'm so glad Spider made it through and hope the dogs confined now. Hope it's a once and done rather than a habitual loose dog.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Ohhhh noooo! This makes me so sad for you and so angry at the irresponsible people that think it's okay to let their dogs roam free wherever they want. I bet your son was totally traumatized, its taken me 3 full years to reach a point where I don't tailspin and have accepted to some degree the nature of owning livestock/poultry. It's not for the faint of heart and when it's because of someone else's blatant irresponsibility it is even more difficult to swallow. Hugs friend, I'm just sick for you .

It is not completely surprising
Hunting dogs get lost and separated from their people sometimes. Most are well trained to stay away from chickens as our ferals hoping out of the jungle are a distraction from the job the dog is supposed to be doing. Guess this dogs owner was not able to do that. Don't know how long this dog was separated or how hungry it was. My son said it was not too terribly thin. It had a GPS collar on... IDK, a closed gate probably would have helped a lot. I just re stressed to my DS how important it is that he stays on it but I am sure her knows that. He really enjoys the chickens and was absolutely sick that this has happened

 

[Shetland lover]

Ferdy had a traumatic day today. First, there was the green and white monster that appeared beside the kitchen door seemingly overnight (AKA our 'still wrapped in white netting' Christmas tree). No-one dared pass it to come inside and poor Ferdy was beside himself as he could see I was cooking crumpets for breakfast. The noise he was making was beyond ridiculous . I eventually took pity on them and carried the boys through. The girls, being less silly, immediately followed and peace was restored.
Then onto the next event! A bit of background - my friend sent me a dog toy in the shape of a bantam cuckoo Maran because I've expressed a desire for a real one. It arrived in the mail mid-morning and is firmly ensconced in the dining room, next to my desk. Ferdy let himself in at lunch to remind me I was unforgivably late feeding everyone by a whole 10 mins (they have free feed available all day but insist on their special lunch ). Anyway, he took one look at the new 'house chicken' and ran as fast as his little, stubby legs would take him whilst shrieking . I was still laughing 5 mins later when he returned and proceeded to deliver a kick to it worthy of Bruce Lee, which sent it flying across the room!
I certainly wasn't laughing when he came in for t.v and snuggles.
He was happily enjoying a few sunflower hearts when one went down the wrong way. He started making choking sounds and within a few seconds he started going cyanotic and it was obvious he wasn't breathing .
I had no idea what to do! All I could think was to swing him upside down like you would a new born lamb that is not breathing at birth. Fortunately, it somehow worked and the offending seed flew out and he gave a huge gasp.
He's absolutely fine now, I'm relieved to report and is currently falling asleep on my shoulder after sharing a tiny bit of veggie lasagne . It could have been so different.
It made me wonder what you should do if a chicken is choking . I did a quick internet search which gave me no straight answers and a lot of predictable results for 'choking the chicken' . Will do a more thorough search tomorrow.

 

[Shetland lover]

Welp, all things pass, that's forsure.

Last night, I received a panicked call from my son staying up Koke'e. "A hunting dog was in the run murdering my chickens". Seems the dog snuck in before my son shut the run door for the night. My son has never experienced anything like this and was not sure if the dog would go after him, but he managed to grab a stick and get him out of the coop. Could have been a total nightmare and it is... but I only lost 2 girls, 2 wounded, ill see what i can do ♡. One is still missing but she is probably hiding in the forest. Seems making it out of the coop was a good thing. The others I found in the forest were unscathed. Spider is ok... whew!!!
I beelined up the mountain with my pellet gun but dog was long gone. It was a wet and foggy night, glad I went up to get control of the situation.
Time to bring the rest of the flock down the hill. My son feels terrible, he loves them ♡, but it happens and can and does happen to anyone. My poor babies.

That's so awful
Is your son coping o.k?
How are your injured girls?
And I'm so glad Spider is ok too.

People not controlling their dogs and letting them run around loose makes me sooo angry

 

[kurby22]

I feel bad for all of you . I'm so glad Spider made it through and hope the dogs confined now. Hope it's a once and done rather than a habitual loose dog.

@TropicalBabies i don’t know how I missed it that spider was the one up with them! I’m SO glad he’s okay! Also glad that your missing lady made it home in one piece! Poor traumatized babies

 

[Shetland lover]

Lady Ruby showed up!View attachment 3704773
Little worse for the wear. She was quite beautiful after her molt. Well, I am glad she is still with us and somewhat safely home.

That's great news! Who cares if she's looking a little 'weathered', she's a survivor for sure

 

[kurby22]

Ferdy had a traumatic day today. First, there was the green and white monster that appeared beside the kitchen door seemingly overnight (AKA our 'still wrapped in white netting' Christmas tree). No-one dared pass it to come inside and poor Ferdy was beside himself as he could see I was cooking crumpets for breakfast. The noise he was making was beyond ridiculous . I eventually took pity on them and carried the boys through. The girls, being less silly, immediately followed and peace was restored.
Then onto the next event! A bit of background - my friend sent me a dog toy in the shape of a bantam cuckoo Maran because I've expressed a desire for a real one. It arrived in the mail mid-morning and is firmly ensconced in the dining room, next to my desk. Ferdy let himself in at lunch to remind me I was unforgivably late feeding everyone by a whole 10 mins (they have free feed available all day but insist on their special lunch ). Anyway, he took one look at the new 'house chicken' and ran as fast as his little, stubby legs would take him whilst shrieking . I was still laughing 5 mins later when he returned and proceeded to deliver a kick to it worthy of Bruce Lee, which sent it flying across the room!
I certainly wasn't laughing when he came in for t.v and snuggles.
He was happily enjoying a few sunflower hearts when one went down the wrong way. He started making choking sounds and within a few seconds he started going cyanotic and it was obvious he wasn't breathing.
I had no idea what to do! All I could think was to swing him upside down like you would a new born lamb that is not breathing at birth. Fortunately, it somehow worked and the offending seed flew out and he gave a huge gasp.
He's absolutely fine now, I'm relieved to report and is currently falling asleep on my shoulder after sharing a tiny bit of veggie lasagne . It could have been so different.
It made me wonder what you should do if a chicken is choking . I did a quick internet search which gave me no straight answers and a lot of predictable results for 'choking the chicken' . Will do a more thorough search tomorrow.

Dang! Poor Ferdy! That is a traumatic day! Monsters, offensive new chickens in HIS house, and a scary choking incident! He and you have managed to fill a suitable amount of trauma into one day! I’m so very glad you were able to think fast and do something! I know when Tux was going cyanotic it was really scary! Sounds like what you did was a good solution…not sure there’s a lot of good info on saving a choking chicken…like there is for choking the chicken so happy it ended positively!!

 

[TropicalBabies]

Dang! Poor Ferdy! That is a traumatic day! Monsters, offensive new chickens in HIS house, and a scary choking incident! He and you have managed to fill a suitable amount of trauma into one day! I’m so very glad you were able to think fast and do something! I know when Tux was going cyanotic it was really scary! Sounds like what you did was a good solution…not sure there’s a lot of good info on saving a choking chicken…like there is for choking the chicken so happy it ended positively!!

This is just shocking and leaves me a bit speechless. I don't know I'd have the wherewithal to swing the lodging loose. Bravo for quick thinking and the fact that it worked. Now, about those monsters....

 

[TropicalBabies]

That's so awful
Is your son coping o.k?
How are your injured girls?
And I'm so glad Spider is ok too.

People not controlling their dogs and letting them run around loose makes me sooo angry

Son seems to be doing better ♡ I feel really bad for him because this was due to him being a bit lax most likely, but it is what it is, everything wants to eat chickens. May have happened in one way or another no matter what. Just happened on his watch. Bet he will be a much more careful chicken tender from here on out.
Eva (6yo) has a broken wing, so she is wrapped up. The other two may just have plucks and bruises. I can not find anymore breaks though not ruling it out as I don't have an xray. I'll see how they do with settle down time.
They are eating and drinking just very stressed. I have hope. Speaking of hope, Hope is one who is in iso now. Poor baby has been through so much, too much. I am hearted by their trust in me now. They know I am mom and will fix things ♡♡♡