wonderful to meet everyone

FaithPanda

In the Brooder
Sep 9, 2025
5
26
31
2 days ago my daughter's 2 pet hens were attacked and killed by a big black dog. She was/is absolutely devastated. Crying constantly as she experiences her grief so I came here to gain knowledge on how I can advise her. She has one remaining pet hen named Ginga. I have always had hens because I love them too but sadly I am not able to have them at the moment. Anyway thank you for being here. This is a nice site.
 
Oh thank you very much Debbie292d. After much crying from both my girl and me she has it in mind to seek replacements. This has been a long conversation but at the end of the day I will support her choices and help her as much as I can. I will look at those links now and ty. I have passed on the opportunity for my girl to join BYC for herself.
 
Oh thank you very much Debbie292d. After much crying from both my girl and me she has it in mind to seek replacements. This has been a long conversation but at the end of the day I will support her choices and help her as much as I can. I will look at those links now and ty. I have passed on the opportunity for my girl to join BYC for herself.
Oh that's awesome she's thinking of getting a couple more. It's really hard to lose some of our chickens as I grow closer to the friendlier ones out of around 30 or so. I had to put a hen down about a week ago, and it was rough. But it really helps to have others. Never are any like the ones we lose though.
 
It breaks your heart to see your daughter go through this loss.
When my youngest was about 14, she lost all of her ducks to a predator except 1. She cried and cried for two days. Almost nonstop!
We took all of the duck eggs we had on the counter and incubated them. Some were older, but 8 ducklings hatched! This helped our daughter get through the pain of loss.
Getting a few more chicks will help your daughter’s heart to heal.
 
Thank you BoundlessLove. My daughter is a young woman who has the heart the size of the moon. She is so kind and so beautiful on the inside and the out and her love for these chickens were as if they were babies. She has Ginga who is inside with her and they both need each other at the momentl Thank you sooo much
 
It's devastating to lose chickens to predators. Three of my first four were killed one night by a mink.

Not only will your daughter grieve her loss, but so will Ginga. It's traumatizing for her to see her flock mates killed. My remaining girl from that first flock was skittish for quite a while. It might help your daughter if she is able to concentrate on making Ginga feel safe, and they can process their grief together.

Eventually, I let Honey choose new friends from other coops and she happily lived out her days. However, new "friends," whether they are chicks or adult hens, may not like each other right away. There's great information here at BYC on how to integrate old and new birds with the least amount of stress to them and YOU.

Best wishes and sincere sympathy to you both. Glad you joined BYC but sorry for what brought you here.
 
I'm so sorry you both are going through such a heart breaking loss. I hope your daughter can find some new hens or raise some chicks with Ginga so her flock can move on.

Did the dog attack when the girls were out of their coop/run setup? If so, she might want to consider making a pen out electrified poultry netting. My first predator loss was due to the neighbors GSD attacking one of our birds. After that I fenced them in with Kencove poultry netting and powered it with a 10,000 volt charger and haven't lost another bird to a ground predator since.
 
Oh that's awesome she's thinking of getting a couple more. It's really hard to lose some of our chickens as I grow closer to the friendlier ones out of around 30 or so. I had to put a hen down about a week ago, and it was rough. But it really helps to have others. Never are any like the ones we lose though.
Sorry you had to put one down that really is tough... But I think it is an act of love if there is suffering... 😢
 

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