Critical Condition Update at 3:15 PM: The would-be rooster died. We now only have 15 chicks left, two of them being roosters. (At least one is a rooster, I’m not absolutely sure about the other one, but he acts like one)
Critical Condition Update at 12:00 PM: Slanty didn’t make it. He wasn’t breathing well, it sounded as if his lungs filled, and he was trying to open his beak to breath. And his heart was beating really fast, it had been all morning, it never slowed down.
Something got into the chick’s pen last night. We haven’t found out what it is yet.. Do foxes climb? It killed and took 4 chicks, and then killed 5 more.
Now we only have 17.. we used to have 26. Several of the “would’ve been roosters” are missing.
Orin, my beautiful pet ‘golden’ rooster is dead, and Footsy, the curious, statue hen.
Slanty and another would-be-rooster are in critical condition. Either they are completely exhausted, or wounded, we can’t tell yet. But we’ve put them in another brooder so the other chicks won’t pick them or trample them. At least we can give them a chance if they aren’t wounded.
If them two don’t survive, we will only have two roosters, where we would’ve had at least four.
I really hope we can bait whatever killed them in and kill it, because if we don’t, our older hens are likely to be next.
Filed under: Baby Chicks | Tagged: Baby Chicks, chicks, footsy, fox, golden, rooster, slanty
So sorry to hear of your losses, Lacy–that has got to be the most difficult part of raising animals. I hope you discover whatever it was that did this soon.
Dad set a trap for it tonight, but he said if it was a fox it wouldn’t go in the trap, but we’ll see. I hope we catch it so it doesn’t come back for more!
Mom thinks it might have been a weasel, since it had to be small to get through.. I’ve never seen one of them before though.
I guess I can look on the bright side — it didn’t kill them all and I still have Junior!