Chicken massacre last night. Five dead, two injured.

[AGeese]

Here's an article: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-cloth-is-a-backyard-chicken-must-have.79655/

 

[jnicholes]

OK, I just finished installing the hardware cloth. Chickens should be safe now. I’m also taking some extra precautions.

It turns out there were three injuries. Not two. I’m gonna post about that on another thread right now.

 

[jnicholes]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/three-injured-chickens.1648256/

Here is the thread on the injured chickens.

 

[GodLovesU]

Well from the thread it sounds like they’re not as bad as previously thought!Can you post a picture of the improvements on the coop?

 

[jnicholes]

Well from the thread it sounds like they’re not as bad as previously thought!Can you post a picture of the improvements on the coop?

I will do it tomorrow, it is completely dark outside now.

 

[SmiYa0126]

Keep the injured girls warm and in semi dark place, offer sweetened water to drink to help with shock. Assess everyone for injuries, clean then with warm soapy water and then let dry and slather with plain antibiotic ointment or calendula cream. Repeat twice a day until they're healed.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Jared I am so sorry to hear about your losses and the injured chickens. Chickens are amazingly tough and resilient and can often survive some pretty scary-looking injuries. We saved one that had been hurt by a dog. The Educators here will help if you post pictures of the injuries, which you may have done already in other threads. I just wanted to give you some words of hope and encouragement. Also, you know this now, but chicken wire does not protect chickens from anything, it only keeps chickens from getting into or out of places. Dogs for example can tear through chicken wire pretty easily. I know how precious your chickens are to you and can only imagine how traumatic this must have been. Pretty sure we've all been there. My heart goes out to you. Glad you have 8 survivors though. Best wishes going forward, my friend.

 

[jnicholes]

At least it was a raccoon and not aliens.

This comic cheered me up.

 

[BDutch]

First off, two of the chickens are injured. They can’t walk anymore. They’re just sitting there waiting for death I think. How do you ethically put down a chicken?

Sorry for what happened.

They can be injured but not fatal. And in shock. They had a nasty experience that needs time to recover from.
I wouldn’t put them down if you are not sure they are really badly injured.

Last autumn I had a chicken who might have been chased or attacked and flew to a neighbour. I checked but couldn’t find any wounds on the outside.
She couldn’t lie down the first few days. She needed about 4 weeks to heal enough to sleep on the roost. And a few more to be her normal self again. The only thing I did was to make sure she didn’t have to move much for food and water until her moves got better. .