Hello, Michigan. I've just spent a few days catching up on everybody's news here. I had a really bad loss myself and I've been a bit at sea, not sure what to do. Not quite two weeks ago I had 11 chickens. I let them out to free range as usual that day. When I got home after work my DH had closed up the coop just before dark but not looked inside to see who had made it in (that's not really within his range of interests). I went out to check on them and only one chicken was in the coop, plus the turkey. No signs of struggle or lost feathers in or around the coop. I took my flashlight and did as thorough of a search as I could in the dark of the maybe close to an acre they have to free range in during the day. Some of it is pasture, a lot of it is overgrown brush and small trees. It is fenced but it isn't great fencing. I quickly found one dead and partially eaten rooster. Spent close to an hour searching for the others, shining my light under bushes looking for dead birds and up into trees looking for roosting birds--nothing. Finally went inside, laid awake most of the night, figuring they probably were either all dead or wouldn't survive other predators till dawn, but still hoping to hear the second rooster sound off in the morning. Went out at first light. Nobody alive. I did find three more carcasses, two partially eaten, one just dead without a feather disturbed. The other six bodies I still haven't found but they may be further into the brush than I've been able to see, or the chickens could have flown or been taken into the acres of swamp that lies beyond their area.
We live on a private dirt road with 10 houses. Most of the houses have about 10 acres of land each, and we have an email list to communicate with each other. The same day I lost all the chickens one of the neighbors on the road sent out an email saying she and her partner had seen a fox or a coyote several times during the day that day, they were trying to figure out which it was, it was very beautiful and cool, and did any of the other neighbors catch sight of it? No one else replied, but I'm reasonably certain my chickens made its acquaintance. The thing is, I do think it is cool that we live somewhere we can see wildlife. And that fox or coyote was just doing its natural thing. The chickens are the colonists here. And I didn't do enough to protect them.
But I am so so so sad about losing them. I started out in the spring of 2009 with mail order chicks from My Pet Chicken, Two of the chickens killed were from that original group--Henrietta, a pretty and self-confident Golden Laced Wyandotte, and Edna, my Silver Sebright. I can hardly write about Edna. There's a phrase coined by author Jon Katz, "lifetime dog," to refer to a dog who stands out among all the dogs you have owned in your life. Well, Edna was my lifetime chicken. Very, very social to people in general and to me in particular, would rather gossip with you sitting on the nest box or on a fence post than get down on the ground to eat treats, would fly up onto my arm or shoulder when I went out to see the chickens. Also, like my other Sebrights, despite their written reputation, very dependable layers that also went broody. Edna hatched and raised two clutches of chicks for me with grace and devotion. (Yes, I know I'm anthropomorphizing! But she liked me, she really liked me! And people in general!)
The other chickens lost (and I'm going through these as a kind of therapy for myself, so apologies for the wallowing...) were Carly and Jordann, two Golden Sebrights I got from Theron as 5 day old chicks at Chickenstock 2010. They were the best of friends their whole lives, never more than a few feet apart except when one went broody, and very good layers except when broody. Norma, a Speckled Sussex and Audrey, a cream colored Easter Egger, were hatched by Edna from fertile eggs I got from Farmerboy in 2010. Norma was a friendly happy chicken and Audrey had an amazing ability to show up out of nowhere when there were treats available. Audrey also had feathers on her feet, and I always meant to ask Farmerboy about that.... The last four were my two roosters, Virgil and Festus, and Bess and Flora. These four were hatched from shipped eggs I got from a BYC member out of Oklahoma in 2012--the first three were black Ameraucana, and Flora was an Easter Egger (the breeder has diifferent projects going on, and I wanted a mix of different shades of eggs). Virgil and Festus were perfectly non-aggressive to people and good with the ladies and got on well with each other. Bess was shy but sweet, Flora more curious. Edna raised these four as well. Too small of a sample to prove anything, I know, but I'd read that hen-raised roosters were much less likely to be human aggressive, and I certainly saw no hint of any problems with these boys. (The breeder also did say that her lines were good to work with, both males and females, so having genetics on your side always helps!)
The chicken who survived is Bonita, one of my original chickens I got through the mail. She's four and a half years old, but she stopped laying at about a year and a half old. Oh, she's laid an egg here and there since then, but very rarely. Doesn't seem to be a health issue. I just always said she took early retirement. She's the only chicken I've needed to clip toenails on--because she just doesn't scratch around like the other chickens do, and keep them reasonably short herself. But I think her general "lack of ambition" is what saved her life this time. She's always the first chicken to go to roost--like often an hour or two before the others. Like I said, I don't think she's sick. She's not skinny, her eyes look bright, she eats, she just doesn't have that chicken hustle. But what I speculate is she had gone to roost in the coop, every other chicken was still out, the turkey was out with the geese trying to romance them (yet again
) and Mr. Predator came along, took a chicken, panicked everyone else into hiding and not going into the coop. Mr. P (or maybe a group of them) may have taken several chickens at that time or just scared/driven them off so that other predators could pick them off later.
Gilbert the turkey (who survived his own raccoon attack earlier this year) then went into the coop right before dark, my DH came out to close and lock the pop door right on schedule, and I was left to make the sad discovery an hour or so later. The DH felt terrible about it and kept saying, "Did I do something wrong?" but it wasn't him. All the dead birds and the feather evidence was far from the coop, and I'm sure the first attack, at least, happened during the daylight. The fault was in letting them free range, and I always knew that was a risk I was taking. They do love it so so much, though.
So now I feel paralyzed as to what to do. The one lonely chicken has been shut in the coop since it happened. Bonita is pathetically glad to see me when I go see her, and I don't think she's eating as well as she should (except when I hand feed her...
). Obviously keeping a single chicken is not a good long-term idea, both for social reasons and for keeping warm through the winter. The coop itself is very secure. I do not have a run around it. I suppose I could work on building a secure run. That would be something.
Meanwhile, I have moved Gilbert into the secure room in the barn (about 10 x 20) that I have been keeping Eloise the peahen. They seem to be getting along just fine although Gilbert doesn't seem to be "in looove" with her like he is with the geese. As for the goosers, they are just continuing with their regular routines. A pack of very hungry coyotes might go for five geese, I suppose, and I will feel horrible (even more horrible than I do now) if they do. But those geese are pretty good at self-defense.
So I either have to get out of chicken-keeping, which would break my heart, or put more chickens at risk, or keep them locked up all the time. Mostly I've done nothing but grieve and just do the minimum day to day chores.
anyway...y'all? Thanks for giving me a shoulder. Just reading through this thread is therapeutic.
We live on a private dirt road with 10 houses. Most of the houses have about 10 acres of land each, and we have an email list to communicate with each other. The same day I lost all the chickens one of the neighbors on the road sent out an email saying she and her partner had seen a fox or a coyote several times during the day that day, they were trying to figure out which it was, it was very beautiful and cool, and did any of the other neighbors catch sight of it? No one else replied, but I'm reasonably certain my chickens made its acquaintance. The thing is, I do think it is cool that we live somewhere we can see wildlife. And that fox or coyote was just doing its natural thing. The chickens are the colonists here. And I didn't do enough to protect them.
But I am so so so sad about losing them. I started out in the spring of 2009 with mail order chicks from My Pet Chicken, Two of the chickens killed were from that original group--Henrietta, a pretty and self-confident Golden Laced Wyandotte, and Edna, my Silver Sebright. I can hardly write about Edna. There's a phrase coined by author Jon Katz, "lifetime dog," to refer to a dog who stands out among all the dogs you have owned in your life. Well, Edna was my lifetime chicken. Very, very social to people in general and to me in particular, would rather gossip with you sitting on the nest box or on a fence post than get down on the ground to eat treats, would fly up onto my arm or shoulder when I went out to see the chickens. Also, like my other Sebrights, despite their written reputation, very dependable layers that also went broody. Edna hatched and raised two clutches of chicks for me with grace and devotion. (Yes, I know I'm anthropomorphizing! But she liked me, she really liked me! And people in general!)
The other chickens lost (and I'm going through these as a kind of therapy for myself, so apologies for the wallowing...) were Carly and Jordann, two Golden Sebrights I got from Theron as 5 day old chicks at Chickenstock 2010. They were the best of friends their whole lives, never more than a few feet apart except when one went broody, and very good layers except when broody. Norma, a Speckled Sussex and Audrey, a cream colored Easter Egger, were hatched by Edna from fertile eggs I got from Farmerboy in 2010. Norma was a friendly happy chicken and Audrey had an amazing ability to show up out of nowhere when there were treats available. Audrey also had feathers on her feet, and I always meant to ask Farmerboy about that.... The last four were my two roosters, Virgil and Festus, and Bess and Flora. These four were hatched from shipped eggs I got from a BYC member out of Oklahoma in 2012--the first three were black Ameraucana, and Flora was an Easter Egger (the breeder has diifferent projects going on, and I wanted a mix of different shades of eggs). Virgil and Festus were perfectly non-aggressive to people and good with the ladies and got on well with each other. Bess was shy but sweet, Flora more curious. Edna raised these four as well. Too small of a sample to prove anything, I know, but I'd read that hen-raised roosters were much less likely to be human aggressive, and I certainly saw no hint of any problems with these boys. (The breeder also did say that her lines were good to work with, both males and females, so having genetics on your side always helps!)
The chicken who survived is Bonita, one of my original chickens I got through the mail. She's four and a half years old, but she stopped laying at about a year and a half old. Oh, she's laid an egg here and there since then, but very rarely. Doesn't seem to be a health issue. I just always said she took early retirement. She's the only chicken I've needed to clip toenails on--because she just doesn't scratch around like the other chickens do, and keep them reasonably short herself. But I think her general "lack of ambition" is what saved her life this time. She's always the first chicken to go to roost--like often an hour or two before the others. Like I said, I don't think she's sick. She's not skinny, her eyes look bright, she eats, she just doesn't have that chicken hustle. But what I speculate is she had gone to roost in the coop, every other chicken was still out, the turkey was out with the geese trying to romance them (yet again
Gilbert the turkey (who survived his own raccoon attack earlier this year) then went into the coop right before dark, my DH came out to close and lock the pop door right on schedule, and I was left to make the sad discovery an hour or so later. The DH felt terrible about it and kept saying, "Did I do something wrong?" but it wasn't him. All the dead birds and the feather evidence was far from the coop, and I'm sure the first attack, at least, happened during the daylight. The fault was in letting them free range, and I always knew that was a risk I was taking. They do love it so so much, though.
So now I feel paralyzed as to what to do. The one lonely chicken has been shut in the coop since it happened. Bonita is pathetically glad to see me when I go see her, and I don't think she's eating as well as she should (except when I hand feed her...
Meanwhile, I have moved Gilbert into the secure room in the barn (about 10 x 20) that I have been keeping Eloise the peahen. They seem to be getting along just fine although Gilbert doesn't seem to be "in looove" with her like he is with the geese. As for the goosers, they are just continuing with their regular routines. A pack of very hungry coyotes might go for five geese, I suppose, and I will feel horrible (even more horrible than I do now) if they do. But those geese are pretty good at self-defense.
So I either have to get out of chicken-keeping, which would break my heart, or put more chickens at risk, or keep them locked up all the time. Mostly I've done nothing but grieve and just do the minimum day to day chores.
anyway...y'all? Thanks for giving me a shoulder. Just reading through this thread is therapeutic.
