Dead chickens

[Chantal]

Went to lock up the girls on Tuesday evening and found one dead inside the door of the run and another dead in the chicken shed. The remainder of the somewhat shocked looking crew were huddled in their nesting box.

There was no signs of violence, no blood, no feathers, no evidence at all to say what killed them. We've not had rat poison in the vicinity for almost two years and it was way down a hole a good few feet away from the back of their run. We can't find any holes in the run which is wired round all sides and above and below.

Other than thinking they've had a close encounter of the fox kind and died of fright, we are at a loss to know what has happened. If just one had died, I'd just shrug and say "oh well", but two on the same day?

Anyone got any ideas?

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Chantal, sorry to read that.... i wonder if it could be a mink. stoat or a weasel.... if it was one of these, you wouldn't see the tiny punture marks they make to kill, unless you were to pluck one of the birds.

[robo]

Sorry to hear about your chickens, are there any mink in your area

[Motherwoman]

I'm thinking on the same lines, it may have been able to get in but then couldn't drag the bird out.

Horrible when you lose some.

MW

[Chantal]

Thanks everyone.

We checked them pretty closely, especially around their necks as this had been suggested to us but could find nothing. We even pulled the feathers on the neck of one of them.

The wire we used is aviary wire which has only one inch holes, and the lower half of the run is double offset wire; there's a clear corrugated roof over wire. We have gone round so many times looking for any kind of gap and failed to find anything that could allow something larger than a mouse to get in.

I'm not aware of any mink in the area, but unless they are mouse sized mink they'd not get in anyway. The garden backs onto a nature reserve so stoats may be about although in almost 30 years I've never seen one. There's no water course locally either.

Three days on and the remaining six girls are fine, although I still approach the run with some trepidation when I get home from work!

[Motherwoman]

I've had a couple die in previous years when the cold weather comes on, it could be that for one reason or another their bodies were not ready for winter. Not always the older birds either.

MW

[Chantal]

We've still no answers and for the sake of my sanity I'm believing it was fox related fright. The remaining chickens are doing great, no further dramas.

I was a cold day, but not that cold, certainly well above freezing and they weren't even three years old. It was the fact there were two of them!

Interestingly we did find that the skinny one of the two had inch long spurs! This could explain why she didn't lay an egg for the first 18 months and then only the occasional very small one. She was a bloke in disguise! This is the second time this has happened, is it something I'm feeding them?

[peter]

Something in the water?

[Ricard with an H]

I always wanted to keep chickens and the want got to be more after I joined this forum, I've been reminded about my habit of going to bed early. Like 6 and at the latest 8 and that chickens don't want to go to bed until dark during summer.

Then the fact that a lot of people round here keep hens for eggs meant I didn't have a case.

Then, I'm reminded how frail and sensitive I am to loss when the fox inevitably takes it's toll of my pets. We have his-and-hers homes, hers has the chicky-girls so she knows about hens habits to some degree.

I couldn't eat the "chicky-girls" any more than I could have eat Molly from what I'm told about the association you can have with hens so I feel so sorry for Chantal.

Have a gentlemanly huggy Chantal.

[Chantal]

Thanks

To be honest, it was the shock of finding them that upset me, losing them less so as I have lost many over the years, from falling off perches in their sleep to having them taken by foxes. Since the last fox attack the girls are in a secure run, the trauma of letting them free range was getting to much for us and them (and they trashed the garden).

However, because they are in a secure run, in the summer months we never shut their shed door. They put themselves to bed and are up at dawn. We make sure they have a good supply of food and water ready for their late night snacks and breakfast and leave them to it.

[Ricard with an H]

However, because they are in a secure run, in the summer months we never shut their shed door. They put themselves to bed and are up at dawn. We make sure they have a good supply of food and water ready for their late night snacks and breakfast and leave them to it.

If I ever had hens I wouldn't be able to let them free-range for a number of reasons and now I realise the benefit of a closed and secure run. Did your hens get moody for a period after you stopped them free-ranging ?

I still have this image of hens wandering around and clucking happily though I suppose they could do more damage to a kitchen garden than they are worth in eggs. A lady I buy eggs from keeps hens, ducks and geese, although she has lost a few hens over the years she maintains that the joint threat from her dog and the geese keep the fox away most of the time.

Guard-geese.

[Chantal]

No moody problems as I waited until the free range lot were gone and then we built a big secure run for the new girls. They've never known anything else and don't usually try and come out even if the door is left open.

The run takes up a lot of space, but I can still have a nice garden that isn't covered in chicken crap with half the plants eaten down to stalks (esp Geraniums).

[robo]

All my nine stopped laying altogether while i was away a few weeks ago,we only got them in september as point of lay chicks we had a brief spell of them all laying, at least 8 where 1 is an old girl who layed steady till she went into moult, ive managed to get them laying 3 eggs a day since last monday, i realised they where going through a mini moult ,going off all the feathers in the run, i stopped the girl i share them with from feeding them lots of treats i now give them nothing but layers pellets and a bit of corn each morning mixed with a handfull of dried cat food ,i put a addictive in the drinking water as well as white wine vinegar it seems to be working

[Diane]

I have an addictive in my water too...it's called Gin.

[Motherwoman]

Purely for medicinal purposes I'm sure Diane.... Wonder what would happen if I gave it to the chickens!