BDutch's bantam flock & natural breeding projects #5 🪺 🪺 and #6

[fluffycrow]

Oh no! I'm so so sorry. First Chef, now Abby. You must feel heartbroken, but don't blame yourself, this isn't your fault

 

[BDutch]

don't blame yourself,

But I do feel largely responsible. I failed to give them a long and happy life.

Next time (next year) I don’t want to give the predators an easy opportunity to take away my beautiful pullets.

 

[MaryJanet]

But I do feel largely responsible. I failed to give them a long and happy life.

Next time (next year) I don’t want to give the predators an easy opportunity to take away my beautiful pullets.

Taking responsibility is a courageous choice. I mean that a broad sense - not necessarily in this instance when nature was playing a role.

It's a very good idea to reduce predators' options and I'm so sorry you're going through this awful week.

 

[fluffycrow]

Don't. It won't serve you any good right now. We can protect our birds to the best of our abilities, worry about keeping them healthy while they're alive, but when they have passed it doesn't help them nor us to feel bad for what we didn't do. We just have to focus on what we can do to prevent more deaths. In your case however, it was never directly your actions that cause the girls to go missing. Every time we let them out to free range, we accept the risk that comes with it. You deciding to not free range the young ones next year is you taking the necessary responsibility. Feeling beat up after making this decision won't help anyone. You're an amazing chicken-er, and you're doing everything humanly possible to keep them safe

 

[fuzzi]

But I do feel largely responsible. I failed to give them a long and happy life.

Next time (next year) I don’t want to give the predators an easy opportunity to take away my beautiful pullets.

I'm so sorry.

 

[ManueB]

I am very sorry too little Abby is gone . Especially as I insisted you let them go outside! She was such a pretty daint little pullet .

I completely agree with fluffy. The fact that Ini Mini is so old shows you're doing things well. I certainly wish one of my chickens would reach her age. You hesitated a lot and I was one of those who said they should learn young to be outside. It's very hard for me to imagine chickens growing with little freedom, but loosing two so close is too hard.
Unfortunately it seems you're right. Whatever got Chef must be aware now there are chickens where you live.

I’m very sad she’s gone. It's really been a terrible chicken week .

 

[BDutch]

I am very sorry too little Abby is gone . Especially as I insisted you let them go outside! She was such a pretty daint little pullet .

I completely agree with fluffy. The fact that Ini Mini is so old shows you're doing things well. I certainly wish one of my chickens would reach her age. You hesitated a lot and I was one of those who said they should learn young to be outside. It's very hard for me to imagine chickens growing with little freedom, but loosing two so close is too hard.
Unfortunately it seems you're right. Whatever got Chef must be aware now there are chickens where you live.

I’m very sad she’s gone. It's really been a terrible chicken week .

It was my decision not yours to let Abby free range to integrate with the adults and because all chickens are always happy if the are set free to free range in the garden.
Please do not feel responsible for what has happened.

Maybe the domesticated feral cat is responsible. But I haven’t seen any feathers or body parts. I havent seen any buzzerds or other birds of prey circling either. I’m just not sure who’s done it only tend to blame the cat this time and for the other casualties in the past year.

That I didn’t find anything is not strange because behind our garden is a piece of land of the municipality. Its a kind of small wilderness every summer and autumn until they mow it.

View from the ‘wilderness’ to the house.

 

[fluffycrow]

I'd bet on the cat. We have one running around as well. I don't like having him around. The LF's don't care about him at all. I've even seen the brahma dust bathing while the cat is sitting right next to them. The bantams...is another story. Especially the serama, they HATE him. He has tried to eat them. Serama and Dutch bantams are sort of similar in size, so it's possible

 

[BDutch]

The neighbour cats don’t harm my Dutch. We have 4 cats who come into our garden every day/several times a day.

These are normal housecats and never attacked my flock. But I wouldn’t trust them with chicks. The bantams do make a little soft alarming sound if they see one and walk slowly away. They don't really flee like they do when they see a dog.

The strange cat is a little bigger as the housecats. I tried to teach my flock to be alarmed for this big cat just as if they see a dog. But the alarm difference between seeing a housecat and this big cat is small.

My Dutch are a bit bigger as show-standard (450g for females). They weigh 650 grams. But Abby was a bit smaller. Possibly show-standard size and just 400 - 450 grams because she was still a teenager.

Btw, I haven’t seen any dogs in our garden this summer except for the friendly neighbour dog. A labradoodle who only hurts a fly. He is trained well and is very rarely in our garden.

 

[fuzzi]

We have so many feral cats, hawks, loose dogs, raccoons, opossums, foxes, and coyotes that I decided to keep my 9 bantams confined in a 16'x8' hoop coop.

Don't even think about it...