- Aug 14, 2009
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Hi all. Hate for this to be my first post. I've been perusing this forum for a couple of years in the spring when i have thought about getting chicks, and have been a very frequent reader this summer as i was offered and accepted 6 Barred Rock chickens from a teacher friend who hatched and raised them as part of a summer camp - they outgrew the camp's resources and offered them to us. We decided to take the plunge, and its been a great 3 weeks till today.
I came home to find them massacred today. 4 intact chickens lay dead in and around an outbuilding and 2 were further away in the yard with damaged bodies.
I literally just found them a 1.5 hours ago, so my first question should really be about disposal. I did some quick searches here and found nothing helpful right off the bat (i've spent more time reading about how to identify the perp amongst the suspects). Obviously burial is an option - what about fire? I'm not opposed at all to butchering under normal circumstances, i'm not entertaining that idea in this case due to unknown cause and time since death. Not to mention the emotional smackdown.
I really started getting attached to the chickens, was about halfway done with my homemade chicken tractor (awesome pics and suggestions here), and am now wondering about trying again or deciding to call it quits. I'll have some more questions to that effect later, and also about who to blame and what to do about it. Suspect number one is the Jack Russell Terrier named Wolf - who has actually been great with the chickens. Don't worry he is not going to get "disciplined" an any permanent or other way, but obviously i need to think about the compatibility of all our critters if i'm going to try raising chickens again.
Gotta go deal with whats left. Be back to check on disposal suggestions after that.

I came home to find them massacred today. 4 intact chickens lay dead in and around an outbuilding and 2 were further away in the yard with damaged bodies.
I literally just found them a 1.5 hours ago, so my first question should really be about disposal. I did some quick searches here and found nothing helpful right off the bat (i've spent more time reading about how to identify the perp amongst the suspects). Obviously burial is an option - what about fire? I'm not opposed at all to butchering under normal circumstances, i'm not entertaining that idea in this case due to unknown cause and time since death. Not to mention the emotional smackdown.
I really started getting attached to the chickens, was about halfway done with my homemade chicken tractor (awesome pics and suggestions here), and am now wondering about trying again or deciding to call it quits. I'll have some more questions to that effect later, and also about who to blame and what to do about it. Suspect number one is the Jack Russell Terrier named Wolf - who has actually been great with the chickens. Don't worry he is not going to get "disciplined" an any permanent or other way, but obviously i need to think about the compatibility of all our critters if i'm going to try raising chickens again.
Gotta go deal with whats left. Be back to check on disposal suggestions after that.
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