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brucifer said:
Olivia, if such cruel words came from someone who really mattered in your life, then I would say you have a problem on your hands, but that's not the case, so don't allow her anger and bitterness to get inside your head. Go on about your business, and make a concerted effort to love and enjoy your family and your chicken flock. It may be hard to see now, but there is a silver lining to all of this.

When you have any kind of livestock, things such as losing birds or animals are part of the deal. The good things more than make up for bumps in the road. As for Mrs. Patmore, she was loved while you had her, but she can be replaced. Hang in there. :hugs
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X2. I agree with everything Bruce said! I'm sad that you lost your birds! I hope your daughter will be ok! I have 4 kids and have always wished I had had more! I understand completely how you feel about everything! I have had people be mean to me, I have lost birds and I have had sick kids. I think you and I are probably alike in a lot of ways. We are too tender hearted and are hurt really easily. I remember the first ducks I tried to hatch. Most died because I had let the chickens hatch first and tried to leave the duck eggs in for the extra week. So much bacteria grew, it was awful. I cried and felt like a murderer. I thought I would never hatch eggs again!
Please don't let that mean women have the power to hurt you! And, don't let her ruin your happiness with your chickens
My prayers are with you and your family.
 
livhatcher said:
Ok. I read this last night and proceeded to have a big ugly cry. I can't express to you how terrible I feel since you entrusted this bird to my care. I spent the evening reinforcing the little coop---putting another layer of hardware cloth on, installing new hinges (hawk tore one off) and laying a tarp over the top just so the hawks don't have anything to fix on. These poor birds are so stressed out---open beaked and breathing heavily. It was all I could think of to put fresh fragrant herbs, mealworms, fresh food & water and try to reassure them.

It would not have been so bad--you know, I would've been angry about the stupid hawk, but it would not have been so awful if that woman hadn't done what she did. And to feel like it was such a betrayal---we've always had good relationships with our neighbors and she just went off the rails. Telling the kids and you was the second worst. By the evening, I was just feeling sad and paranoid that something would get them in the night. With M out of town last night and Ava being sick I was just done in. If it hadn't been for Marie talking me through it and threatening to kick some ass, I don't think I would've made it.

I'm grateful for those who have had kind words. I'm going to focus on making my home a happy place today and try to get my mind right about dealing with these neighbors. I'm going to put a hold on more birds indefinitely---I need to feel in more control of my property again.
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Don't let a hawk and a nutty neighbor get between you and your chickens. Things may seem overwhelming right now, and I know you were hurt to the core, but you're resilient. You'll bounce back from all of this. This episode will pass and will make you stronger is so many ways. Just wait and see.

Most of us have dealt with the ups and downs of chicken husbandry. The ups more than make up for the downs; otherwise, we wouldn't stay in it. Please don't take another thought about Mrs. Patmore. I don't think any less of you and feel much worse for you and your children than for that bird. As I said in an earlier post, she can easily be replaced.

Concerning predators, we're all always trying to build better mousetraps. However, sometimes a predator will find a weak spot in a fence, or someone may leave a gate open by accident, and then all hell breaks loose. We learn; we fix; and, we move on, but we will lose chickens along the way. It happens. For example, just when I had thought I had heard it all, I read an account last week where a fox got into someone's coop through an unlatched nesting box. That was a new one on me. We have inside nesting boxes, but if I ever build outside boxes, I will be sure to use latches after reading that. Also, look how that rat snake got into our house a couple of months ago through a nickle-sized opening in the floor, crawled into an elevated brooder, and killed and mortally infected several chicks. Rat Snake 1, brucifer 0. The bottom line is that it is hard to always stay one step ahead of predators, and all we can do is give it our best effort. You have done that, SO DON'T GIVE UP and don't punish yourself!

BTW, I think you've done a great job with your birds, with hatching, and making our community a better place. You've made a lot of new friends here. Don't you go away!
 
Flowerbh said:
X2. I agree with everything Bruce said! I'm sad that you lost your birds! I hope your daughter will be ok! I have 4 kids and have always wished I had had more! I understand completely how you feel about everything! I have had people be mean to me, I have lost birds and I have had sick kids. I think you and I are probably alike in a lot of ways. We are too tender hearted and are hurt really easily. I remember the first ducks I tried to hatch. Most died because I had let the chickens hatch first and tried to leave the duck eggs in for the extra week. So much bacteria grew, it was awful. I cried and felt like a murderer. I thought I would never hatch eggs again!
Please don't let that mean women have the power to hurt you! And, don't let her ruin your happiness with your chickens
My prayers are with you and your family.
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Thank you! I think my girl just had a really rough tummy ache--a run to the store last night for some OTC meds and a night of sleep seems to have really improved her. Thank you for the words of encouragement. I feel like I live life with people thinking I'm a pretty tough cookie, but this really got me. My first hatch bit me bad as well--I trusted a man and I think he ended up sending me eggs from an aging or bad bacteria ridden flock. It made me feel terrible and extra awful for the poor kindergartners who only saw 4 hatch out of 32! I have a feeling we are a lot alike. I am trying really hard to not internalize this stuff from the lady next door who is obviously unwell. I am continually overwhelmed by all of your kindnesses. I still feel poopy, but at least I feel like I have people who have my back. ((hugs))
 
brucifer said:
Don't let a hawk and a nutty neighbor get between you and your chickens. Things may seem overwhelming right now, and I know you were hurt to the core, but you're resilient. You'll bounce back from all of this. This episode will pass and will make you stronger is so many ways. Just wait and see.

Most of us have dealt with the ups and downs of chicken husbandry. The ups more than make up for the downs; otherwise, we wouldn't stay in it. Please don't take another thought about Mrs. Patmore. I don't think any less of you and feel much worse for you and your children than for that bird. As I said in an earlier post, she can easily be replaced.

Concerning predators, we're all always trying to build better mousetraps. However, sometimes a predator will find a weak spot in a fence, or someone may leave a gate open by accident, and then all hell breaks loose. We learn; we fix; and, we move on, but we will lose chickens along the way. It happens. For example, just when I had thought I had heard it all, I read an account last week where a fox got into someone's coop through an unlatched nesting box. That was a new one on me. We have inside nesting boxes, but if I ever build outside boxes, I will be sure to use latches after reading that. Also, look how that rat snake got into our house a couple of months ago through a nickle-sized opening in the floor, crawled into an elevated brooder, and killed and mortally infected several chicks. Rat Snake 1, brucifer 0. The bottom line is that it is hard to always stay one step ahead of predators, and all we can do is give it our best effort. You have done that, SO DON'T GIVE UP and don't punish yourself!

BTW, I think you've done a great job with your birds, with hatching, and making our community a better place. You've made a lot of new friends here. Don't you go away!
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I know it will pass. Gosh I hate these predators. I especially hate the fear it's put into these sweet birds. Mostly I hate that I can't walk into my backyard without feeling like that dumb woman is staring at me or watching my every move. Feeling self conscious on your own property is terrible. We will definitely be studying on a privacy fence down that line. I really appreciate the kindness that you've shown me. I am hoping we get the coop & run completed very quickly so that this will cease to be an issue. I do admit that my enthusiasm has been subdued and I haven't even given a passing thought to my hatching eggs in a day. I hope that changes.
 
livhatcher said:
I am absolutely beside myself...my son came to me today and said a huge bird was flapping at the hoop coop. I couldn't believe it and went down there...there were feathers everywhere and 2 chickens dead. Mrs. Patmore (family favorite) the crele orp and a white crested blue polish were killed. All the other birds managed to hide/escape. Over the course of having my mom and boys help me police them up and get them all to safety, the next door neighbor woman who is older (and has always been very nice) came on her porch and started screaming at me. This went on even as I tried to clean up the dead birds, get the living ones and was generally a complete mess. She berated me for my life choices from having 4 kids and 2 dogs and a husband to calling me the b-word and making weird insinuations about my family. She went on and on about how the chickens were in her yard. I kept explaining through tears that they were hiding and I was trying to get them to safety. She just wouldn't stop yelling at me, and as I begged her to stop screaming at me she began mocking me. It was insane. Two hours later I am still a complete mess---sad, outraged, and definitely off kilter. But I also need to take care of my kids---fearing my daughter is on the edge of appendicitis...and I'm here spilling it because I'm just sick. I can accept loss of birds from predators as an inevitability, but being verbally assaulted and called obscenities by a 75+ year old in front of my kids is just too much. :hit
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Oh that is awful, put the infantile behavior of your neighbor to her being senile and having a bladder infection. lol, I hope you poured yourself a nice glass of wine by now. As you can see I'm late with the 411
 
katsdar said:
Oh that is awful, put the infantile behavior of your neighbor to her being senile and having a bladder infection. lol, I hope you poured yourself a nice glass of wine by now. As you can see I'm late with the 411
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Girl. I had a bourbon neat last night and went to bed.

katsdar said:
I have a snake I'm trying to send back to it's maker if I can get it, it is creating havoc on my chicks the broodies are hatching
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I hope you get the damn thing. I'm still frustrated that raptors are protected. :he I'm also frustrated that senile nasty old ladies are off limits!! I promise (ask my mama!) I stayed respectful the whole time. I was part :mad: and part :hitand part :oops:
 

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