I am so heartbroken as I write this, I have been crying all afternoon.
I was raising 4 chickens and they were doing wonderful, they were growing and very soon were going to start laying eggs in about another month or so. This morning with all the chaos, taking care of all in the house, kids, husband, swimming lessons for my kids etc... I forgot to open the pop door to let the chickens out into the run area and this afternoon about 6 p.m is when I went outside to ckeck on my veggies I noticed that the chickens were not out, so I went to check and they were all dead except one. I suppose it just got too hot for them and they just died of dehydration/heat. They continually flipped the water over I left for them in there so I stopped redfilling it... I feel so guilty, this is my first time having chickens and I really was enjoying it and thought they were not only a good addition to my garden but also good pets and really cared for them. Only the smallest one survived.
I only hope this post can help you to remember your pop door and not go through the same misery.
(Carmen's DH sends for her... she's really weeping now).
Very sad thing happened today.
Oh no, so sorry. We do get so attached to them and I know how devastated you are. We have lost several over the years to predators and some to we don't even know what. It isn't easy and I've cried many a tear as well.
How is the survivor doing? She may need some boost to help her recover. A little sugar in her water may help.
I'm so sorry to hear that. I was wondering how the survivor is doing too. Take care of yourself.
She is doing fine, she is walking and acting like her normal self. I am very surprised that she, beign the smallest one was the one that actually survived. I filled up a big container of water inside the chicken coop and also she has the big one outside in the run. My DH this afternoon installed 2 more air vents to help with air circulation. We have been talking about trying to hang the little water container inside the chicken coop so the chicks can't dump it.
I am wondering will the one chicken be O.K, does she need others as companions? They just all seemed to hang out together in a group, looking out for each other and such...
Thank you so much for understanding.
This message was edited Jul 7, 2010 9:40 PM
Carmimator1: Things like this are the most difficult, as we make mistakes and some of our animals suffer for it. Your only human, and we all make those similiar mistakes. Trust me birds have died as a result of my ignorance, or mistakes, and yes as a man I have shed the tears also. Don't be hard on yourself, these are the mistakes we remember and the next birds will be much better off as we learn and promise ourselves to be more careful. Keep your chin up and after sheding those tears, go out get some more and promise yourself not to forget the lesson you have learned. I think your tears are a sign of your love, and your new girls will know that...Best regards...Haystack
Words cannot tell you how sorry I am for you,and Hay is right we all make mistakes
Carminator, I'm so sorry to hear about that! I would definitely get some more girls to keep your lone chicken company, and maybe you can find someone with older chickens so you don't have to go through the brooding again so soon. Lots of luck, and yes, we've all made mistakes - like leaving a louvered window in the coop open for a mink to get in and kill 12 of mine! It's all part of learning.
Thank you guys, yes I do definetely want more chickens but my question is, if I was to get an adult chicken would she be friendly, I had raise the chickens since they were about a week old and they were friendly so if the chicken has not been raised by me would she be always scared when I come to the coop? And second how do I introduce the new chicken to the coop, does she have to be in a cage in the coop for a while for my chicken to get used to her?
My sympathes are with you. I hope you feel better soon and get a couple more chickens for you little flock!
I don't think you'll have trouble introducing a new chicken as long as you avoid the aggressive breeds like Barred Rock. Perhaps you can find a 4H or FFA chicken that has been handled a lot and won't be afraid of you. Check Henderson's chart for friendly breeds. http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html.
Thanks porkpal I am already looking at the list, this time around I think I am going to do a little better research on the breed I want.
I am wondering about the silkies, are they a good breed, good egg producer? I live in a fairly new neighborhood and I read that this chickens do not fly which is a little problem I had with mine, just this past weekend I had to clip their wings but I also read that you have to do it evey 4 months or so. I also have kids so I would like a breed that is friendly and non agresive.
One more thing is my DH built a really nice coop but the run only measures 5 foot by 20 foot approx and so it is not very big so I am wondering if having smaller chickens will solve the problem on how many I can have. I can't let the chickens use the rest of the backyard because first I have dogs and small kids and second I grow veggies as well and don't want them destroying all my veggies. Any ideas on good breeds and whether or not I should go for the smaller Silkie type ones.
I have silkies along with my bigger breeds.They are sweet and small,they do not fly very high,they lay small eggs and when they are not broody they lay about every other day,but they go broody a lot so your egg production is small.They will lay on any egg and hatch it,they are very good mothers,when they go broody they will sit on air and try to hatch it.They egg very little compared to the larger breeds.This is my little one that hatched out last friday in the incubator.His mother was broody and I wanted some white ones so I ordered from ebay and had to take this one egg from her so she would set on the 12 I got from ebay,this one was only a few days from hatching so I put it in the incubator and it hatched so I am the mama untill I can try to introduce him or her into the flock.It likes snuggling up to its bear
Silkies make great pets, but lay small eggs and arn't the most reliable layers. They are also extremely broody birds. We have 6 adult Silkies and they are broody very often.
Blue Cochin bantams are also a good friendly breed and some will lay quite well but not all, they also only lay small eggs.
Most all large egg layers will be flyers till they get too heavy to fly. Some will still fly even when full grown some are less apt to fly. Buff Orpingtons are friendly, lay nice brown eggs and are a heavier breed when full grown. Ours don't tend to try to fly out, but then we have a tall fence, we have had some Ameraucanas fly over it though if they can find something to give them a boost.
Oh Green you are so right about Silkies sitting on air to hatch it, we have some doing that right now. We are trying to discourage the hatching of anymore chicks, have too many to deal with right now as it is and still have 3 hens on eggs.
O.K so maybe silkies are not what I am looking for then, since I can't have a lot of chickens, I definetely want one that will produce fairly good and that is friendly. What I used to have, and the one that survived is called a golden sex link, the lady told me that these were one of the best producers and layed brown eggs, they are fairly friendly but they didn't like to be picked up and just came close to me when I had food in my hands.
We have a tall fence too but the chicken coop is built up on tall wooden legs and my DS scared one of the chickens when they were alive and one of them got on top of the tall fence and almost got to the neighbors yard, we were able to get her by getting to the neighbors yard, but since then I decided that I had to do something about their wings so this would not happen again, if they are not scared then they don't fly and always stay in place though.
I will look about the Orpingtons and see how they look. thanks for all you help.
I can definetely tell the survivor (Tootsie roll ) is lonely, hopefully I can at least get her a companion soon.
Silkies are great for in town. I tie my dog up during the day while the chickens free range in the yard. Then I let her go at night after I lock the chickens up. The chickens do not fly over the fence, which is why I wanted the silkies. No way would my neighbors have tolerated chickens flying around here.
The chicken tractor I made is 8' by 4' and is 3' high. One end is boxed in with wood, but the other part is wire. So even after they are locked up they have the option of being inside the boxed area, or in the wire part.
I usually get 5 or 6 eggs a day. The hens are smaller and so is the feed bill I would think. It probably takes 3 silkie eggs to equal two regular eggs. They are small, but not tiny.
As far as mistakes go, I've made a ton of mistakes too, more than I care to remember.
Strange isn't it how we can eat chicken all the time and never think of the birds that die, but let our own birds die, and it is simply tragic. In the end, we have to be grateful that it wasn't something worse that happened, and move forward. It's the cycle of life.
I really like my Buff Orpingtons. They are big, very friendly birds that lay big brown eggs nearly daily. They come to me, like to be picked up and petted, and are too big to get off the ground more than about two feet when they fly. They are also quite talkative which your neighbors might not appreciate and they do go broody more than some.
I really like my Buff Orpingtons too! I know I'll get more of them in the future. They aren't old enough to lay yet but are SO friendly, much more so than the EE's. They hop right up on my lap and look at me when I talk to them and they cluck back at me LOL. They aren't pushy, just calm, curious, friendly and always appreciate treats. When I call the chickens the Buff Orps are always the first to come.
Good luck in your search, there are quite a few very friendly & calm chickens to choose from.
Here is one of our Buffs with a baby on her back. She was an excellent momma.
Thanks I am looking at craighlist right now since the Seed and Feed where I bought my chickens don't sell any at this time of year. There is a couple that is selling their 6 week old golden sex links for $3.50 each, the Buff orpingtons that I am seeing are more expensive usually $12 or more each, so I am wondering whether or not to buy maybe a couple of the golden sex links and then wait for next spring and try to get a baby Buff Orpington, what do you guys think? Or should I just go with the Buff Orpington. Are Buff Orpington more friendly and better producers that the Golden sex links?
Also my DH thinks that maybe 4 chickens in the space we had was too crowded and he thinks that now we should just stick to max 3 chickens, what do you guys think? Their house is plenty big for at least 6 or 7 chickens but the run is only 5 foot by 20 foot, so not too big.
I have sexlinks and they are the best layers!You get and egg everyday and they are large eggs.I have 5 buffs and think I will eventually have all buffs as some die off or are sold.They are so friendly.
4 hens should do fine in the space you have. Too bad we don't live closer, I have some Buffs that are probably 3 months old. I know I have at least one hen in the Buffs if not two. I also have some that are mixed. They can be very friendly as well. I have one baby sitting on my desk (the one in the picture) as I type this on a napkin. It hatched a little less than a week ago and the hens were still more interested in the eggs so we are keeping it in a box under a light till it gets big enough to go in with some other babies we have. The momma hen was a Buff, the father was an Australorp/Cochin mix.
By the way, Australorps are pretty good layers and friendly too, they are solid black with a green sheen to their feathers, very pretty.
Don't forget the marans that are now so popular because of the dark color of their eggs.
Wow the marans look pretty cool and I have never seen eggs like that before, it almost looks like they are painted. DH and I have been talking and thinking that maybe we should just get 1 adult chicken just so tootsie roll has a companion for the meantime and then I could search for some babies. I am gearing towards trying that couple that is selling theirs on Craighlist for $4 each, they are just golden sex links and black sex links that they are selling but then for the babies I could search for other varieties and not have to pay big $, plus I think I much rather raise them myself. What do you guys think.
So far the ones that I like per your reccomendations are teh Buff Orpingtons, the Australops and the Marans look prety interesting too, but are they friendly and good layers?
I think your plan is a good one. Sorry I don't know anything about the Marans.
We have Cuckoo Marans and like them. They seem to lay more eggs at first and then taper off a little, though. Most of our eggs right now seem to be coming from the Cherry Eggers, which are the same age.
smedgekles I forgot to tell you that your little chick is so darn cute, I wish I could take it home with me right now.
I just talked to the lady that owns the golden sex links and black sex links and I will go see them tomorrow, it will be difficult just choosing one but I definetely would love to have a little more variety right now, and not just the sex links plus getting babies again would be fun. I'll have to keep looking for the babies though on the net and see if I can find the other breeds.
I'd give you that baby if you were closer, we have a bunch of babies right now that need homes, we can't keep them all. Baby chicks are fun and it is interesting to see the different personalities in them.
Right now that baby is outside in a little pen next to our baby turkeys, thought it might help it to have company, all it wants is attention and I can't hold it all day. :)
sent you D-mail you are only 45 minutes from me
O.K just came from Donna B's house she is a super nice lady and got 2 of her Aracuana's, one of them is Monkey and the other is a mix she told me of Americuana I think and Aracana, please correct me if I am wrong. I am super thrilled, both of them are already laying eggs and not only that but they are very friendly which is a big plus for me. I just introduced them to their new house. I had to place a barrier between tootsie roll and the new ones because monkey the dark one and tootsie the surviver were getting at each other's throats.
Here's a few pictures I just took.
Here's another.
She also gave me some eggs, they are so prety I almost don't want to eat them, no just kidding!
One of them is missing the one that tootsie had layed before we left her house because my DS decided he wanted to open it to see if there was a baby inside, sorry Dona.
Sorry here it is.
lol I figured if you had a problem it would be Monkey. Hopefully they will make friends quickly. I wonder if you seperate Monkey and put TootsieRoll and Tuffy together if she will get lonely and behave. Tuffy is just to laid back. She just wants some sweet talk, petting, and a few treat
I might try that and see, by the way how long do you think it takes for them to finnally establish the pecking order? We placed a divider in the run but will also have to do it on the chicken coop as well, just a temporary one at least.
That was so generous of you, Donna! Glad to hear TootsieRoll has some company.
The eggs are beautiful, what breed of chicken are the dark brown eggs from? Love the color!
Carmen I honestly don't know. Keep them seperated and try to put them together each day for a few minutes when you have a few minutes to watch them. Try bringing treats like berries, watermelon, grapes, raisins etc.to give when they are all together but not to many raisins to often. Read something about to much iron or something building up in them. Make sure to give them grit and calcium freely
French Black Copper Marans Annie
I am so happy for you Carm. Beautiful birds and eggs. You are blessed.
Carminator, I also did away with those feeding trays and put the feed in little piles - or a long loop - around the chicken yard so they weren't fighting each other over it. It made a huge difference.