what to do after fox attack

[julia305]

Hi everyone

i'm devastated my 4 chickens and 2 drakes were pets and the fox got 2 of my chickens and bit the neck of a drake who at this moment touch wood has survived the attack. I am so upset my little bantam used to ride around on my shoulder. What is worse, that she and the other bantam were inseparable I dont know what to do - there are only 2 chickens left should I get another two to keep them company? The head chicken is still with me and i think the 2nd from bottom chicken.

Stella sang the egg song this morning so at the moment it doesnt look as if the chickens are affected. Its my own fault which is worse - i couldnt get one of them into their run as they only have an hour out in the morning due to it being darker in the morning and the ones I put back were putting up such a fuss I felt guilty and phoned my partner and we said ok let's leave them out for the day as we let them stay in the garden all day during the weekend and i went to work and left my poor babies to get killed by a fox and the fox didnt even eat Horatio he just left her dead body lying there. My poor bantam was taken its just too awful for words. I know i'm not the first or last for this to happen to I know lots of owners have felt this loss too but its not the same without their little faces in the morning. How you can go from one morning with them all quacking and clucking at the back door all happy and the next morning just dead silence.

But anyway I dont want my chickens to be lonely but I dont want to just simply put two more in there and they get picked on or they are unhappy. I cant even think about what will happen if the drake doesnt survive.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated
thank you

 

[Bigwig]

So sorry for your loss! In my opinion the more chickens in a flock the better. You could get a hen and name her Horatio 2 (Just kidding). Also it would be better to get an even number of chickens (in particular if you only have 2-6 birds) so the others won't gang up on the underdog as much.

 

[julia305]

Should I get them the same age? I don't want my head chicken usurped as the boss? What about bantams? The top chick is a standard Sussex White and elvis is Pekin bantam. Should I replace them quickly? I don't really want to to be honest but that might be selfish of me

 

[Bigwig]

"Birds of a feather flock together". I would get 1 Sussex and 1 Bantam or 2 Bantams. Typically if you put new birds in the flock they will end up on the bottom of the pecking order no matter what age unless your existing flock are all juveniles and the new one are adults.

 

[julia305]

Of course!! Good thinking. Then they both can have little buddies. Horatio was an ISA so I don't want to get another one
Thank you

 

[123RedBeard]

Yes, I would get two more, if they are adults, you can integrate them after a quarantine period ... up to you how long ... as adults the pecking order will be established, no guarantees that your "top hen" will remain top hen, it just all depends ...

If you get chicks, then you should keep them separate from the older ones until they are grown up ... adults (POL at least) seem like the best solution for you ...

 

[julia305]

Lovely thank you I'll do that. They are still unsettled quite understandably and all 3 are sticking together at the moment it's absolutely not the same without the others there but I do hope they recover soon

Thank you everyone for your advice and kind words