Heartbroken after a chicken raid

[CAChickenNewbee]

Thanks all for your kind words. This happened a week ago and we still have no idea what animal may have attacked the girls. We've spent a lot of time just watching the yard to see if any animal returns - none so far. The girls are kept locked up except for when we're in the yard with them. The guineas really hate that. We have been practising with a cross-bow as anyhitng more than a pellet rifle is not legal in our neighborhood.

My injured hen, Sam, was worse off that we first thought, but is doing really well. She's still in the chicken ICU, isolated, but she is really active. She doesn't seem to have any problem moving around, but has not resumed laying eggs yet. There was a lot of damage to the right side close to her vent area, but that is all healing well. We've been giving her a shot of batril everyday. She did lay an egg the afternoon after the attack, but my guess is, the egg had already formed earlier in the day and just needed to be laid...

All that said, after a weekend of being stressed out and ticked off my husband figured I needed some feed store therapy. Needless to say, I have four new babies. 2 Barred Rock and 2 Silver Laced Wynadottes. My name is Sue and I am addicted to chickens......

 

[chickanddoglvr]

I just lost my last 2 chickens a week ago to a racoon. He some how got into the chicken coop at night and took them. So sad.
Sorry for everyones losses.

 

[CAChickenNewbee]

Quote:
So sorry for your loss. It's hard to put so much time into these birds only to lose them to opportunistic predators. It sure makes me appreciate farmers and ranchers.

It's a constant battle.....well worth it though. My chickens give me so much pleasure and just watching them scratch around for a few minutes mellows me out.

 

[Sweet Violet]

Hi Sue,
I am so sorry for your loss. I too lost some precious girls to an unknown predator. I'm up in Vista. I think it was a raccoon. It came in the middle of the night and was able to tear off the hardware cloth on one side of a very large brooder. It had to climb over a six foot fence. I was really upset and indeed went through a grieving process.
Naomi