If You Live Outside Of The United States & Find Eggs, Be Careful

You never know what's going to hatch

 

I am kind of worried about finding eggs tomorrow. There were feathers all around my driveway and when I called only 4 hens showed up. My 2 roosters and three of my youngest hens didn't come when I called or even answer. two hens were up roosting already.
Sometimes when danger happens my chickies go to ground and stay there till danger is over. A hawk will force them under brush. But this looked more like a fox attack on just one bird. I guess I have to wait till tomorrow to find out if I need to go get some cobra eggs. Or bring a gun.

 

Well so far I found one rooster and young hen dead. Just dead, not eaten and they were scattered, so I think is was sport killing by a stray dog.

 

It is funny. When a coyote is after my chickens my first thought is a gun. But shooting someone's dog gave me pause. Lots of injured chickens here to nurse back to health. One still missing. But it seldom happens here that people let their dogs run loose. Might have been visiting Christmas relatives.

 

Aww, I'm sorry to hear that, Mary. I always thought if a coyote got one of our goats it would be dead quickly and drug off to be eaten. That's life. I can accept it. But when dogs attack, they just do the damage and move on. Hope you can nurse your chickens back to health.

 

Thanks Nancy,
I really don't like eating our chickens but when one is killed, we sometimes do. Two were killed from this so far.
One was up on the roost where I can't get up to. She hadn't had anything to eat or drink since the attack and this is the third day. I had my daughter climb up to get her and I put her in the chicken tractor. I don't think she was injured too badly as some. She drank water for a long time. Just traumatized I guess.
I was worried about rabies, of all things. I didn't know the dog. Never saw it. But it turns out birds don't get rabies JFYI

 

If you can put the rigid livestock panels around your chicken area, dogs can't get through unless they dig. When I was originally constructing my poultry areas, I laid fencing under the ground along the fence line, livestock panels around with poultry wire tied to it, and old fishing gill nets over them to protect from owls, hawks, and eagles.

You can also train your birds to go inside when the sun goes down with and automatic door that closes behind them. That is what my son in Missouri does.

 

There may not be an egg industry in the U.S, if the USDA keeps going. There are so many egg-laying chickens being culled now, that many producers have decided to give up. If one or two chickens in a flock of 100,000 birds test positive, the entire flock is reportedly being killed. The farmers are being reimbursed for the value of the birds but not for the income lost until replacements (if they can be found) reach egg-laying maturity. By doing that, the USDA is preventing any birds from developing an immunity to the virus (bird flu) or from any mutations coming forward that would develop into an immune breed of chicken. Bad short-sighted policies all around.

 

Thanks, but it is like Gilda Radner used to say "It's always something". I have sheep fencing all around to keep coyotes out but the sheep push their muzzles underneath to get the grass, making spaces that the chickens can get under. The head rooster used to lead the hens when anything with big wings appeared but he was one of the recent casualties. The rooster that is left is in bad shape but he is not as protective, if he pulls through. The chickens come in around dusk and roost on top of 8 ft tall stall walls and higher.
I keep saying I will move to the farm during the day but this time of year there's more to do off the farm. And the kids are at work most days. I know a guy in Chilton who will raise some replacement pullets for me if I need some but I need to figure out what we are doing next year with everything. I love not needing to use heat lamps and having to worry about raccoons eating my babies.