Losing chickens, feeling guilty

[ChristinaMay]

Thank you. Gladys was a very special bird. She loved my husband who is not really a chicken lover and would jump up into his lap. I have never been as attached to a bird like that before. She needed special care because of her cross beak. I won't free range but my birds have nice large safe pens and when I have opened a gate to let them out, if they do come out, they stay close to the gate and don't stay out for long and go back into their pens. Good luck and have fun...

That's how I feel about my Peg, and my husband loves her too and he's not very fond of the chickens. She rides on the tractor with him, he takes her out "worming" when he works in the gardens, etc. I don't free range either, haven't since we lost 15 chickens last Summer. I loved the idea of it but couldn't handle that happening again. Best of luck to you also, and may Gladys rest in peace <3

 

[cmom]

Gladys liked to ride on the tractor with me too.

 

[beezerbrit]

Owning chickens has been for me and continues to be a lot of trial and error, unfortunately. In my case, we found a way to keep the neighbor's dog out after she got 2 of our new babies, only to have the remaining 3 babies die one night during a freak early frost. Try not to feel bad, just keep learning from mistakes and doing your best by your chickers

 

[cmom]

Owning chickens has been for me and continues to be a lot of trial and error, unfortunately. In my case, we found a way to keep the neighbor's dog out after she got 2 of our new babies, only to have the remaining 3 babies die one night during a freak early frost. Try not to feel bad, just keep learning from mistakes and doing your best by your chickers

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

Don’t feel bad and try not to be disheartened. This is a reality that everybody with livestock faces. Some can seemingly be successful at free ranging but even the most successful will have to have a tolerance for losses. I gave up on having ducks on the ponds, and never even attempted to keep chickens in a free range scenario. There are so many predators of chickens that it would be impossible for us to free range them. We have a secure coop and an enclosed run area for them. My advice would be that is you wish to utilize your yard for their foraging, use an enclosed secure chicken tractor as some call them and move it about so they can eat in a fresh area. We just have a stationary area for ours , but we do frequently give them treats of grass, or fruit and vegetable table scraps.

 

[cmom]

I have a grass collector for my yard tractor. I collect the grass and put some in each pen because I have also lost birds in the past. The birds love scratching through the clippings.