The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: WarescotFarm on July 09, 2012, 10:08:55 pm

Title: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: WarescotFarm on July 09, 2012, 10:08:55 pm
Hi everyone I am totally stumped on this one.
The hens hatched some eggs for me on thursday / friday. We have spent a weekend away and left the hens with 2 healthy baby chicks and 2 eggs on their way to hatching. A friend checked on them on Saturday and said still 2 chicks all going well. We have come home Monday night and there are no eggs, no chicks and no fresh eggs laid.
ALL DISAPPEARED! Hens are well and happy in their coop though.
We have a fox proof coop with a tube of chicken wire. Could something else have got in?
There is literally no rtace of blood, feathers, yoke, shell nothing...
Could the chicks be hiding?

Oh we are soooooo gutted  :'(

Any ideas?
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: WarescotFarm on July 09, 2012, 10:35:54 pm
Oh now I am thinking it was the other chicken (Princess Aurora) who may have finished them off, but she wouldn't have eaten her own eggs too would she? And would she have left not even a beak or foot behind?
Oh I am hopping mad! Wanted to go to bed now but just fuming!  >:(  >:(  >:(
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: Fowlman on July 09, 2012, 10:37:30 pm
Crows ? Stoats ?
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: WarescotFarm on July 09, 2012, 10:40:59 pm
could they get through chicken wire 2 1/2 inch holes?
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: SallyintNorth on July 10, 2012, 12:01:18 am
We lost two complete broods last year.  It was a mystery until I saw one of the resident hedgehogs ambush a 2-day old chick...  I don't rescue hedgehogs now. >:(
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: Fleecewife on July 10, 2012, 12:15:15 am
2 1/2 inch wire is huge for chicks.  They could easily have popped out through it and been taken, but equally a stoat, or more likely a rat will have got in and taken them.
We had Muscovey ducklings in our greenhouse one winter, with half inch mesh on the floor, but some still disappeared.  We found it was rats underneath, pulling them down through the tiny mesh.  You wouldn't think it possible, but we saw the evidence, and some bitten ducklings which survived (for a bit).  Eventually the terriers dug out a HUGE rat which had set up home underneath the greenhouse, probably just to feast on the ducklings.
 
So you need much smaller holes in your mesh, or a solid lining around the bottom.
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: omnipeasant on July 10, 2012, 03:27:46 am
Oh this is sad. I will be sleepless tonight too.
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: tizaala on July 10, 2012, 05:06:08 am
We have a cluth of 6 that were hatched under a woodpile , the mum introduced them the the rest of the birds and we expected casualties as our cats are out and out killers, as are a lot of the other hens , But for some reason the cats have left them alone and mum sees off any other animal, terrier included, that comes too near. they have survived two weeks now. :fc:
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: kitchen cottage on July 10, 2012, 07:18:52 am
last year I had a broody hen in the coop with about 12 eggs under her..... one morning.... all gone, not a yoke or a piece of shell.... it was a mystery....
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: Sylvia on July 10, 2012, 07:33:32 am
Rats!!!! Without a doubt!
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: in the hills on July 10, 2012, 08:45:48 am
Rats take a lot of my neighbours chicks from their old barn where all the hens sleep.  :(


Reckon quite a few predators would pop through those holes/bury underneath.
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: omnipeasant on July 10, 2012, 04:12:31 pm
Tizaala wrote "We have a cluth of 6 that were hatched under a woodpile"

What sort of a bird is a woodpile? :-J
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: northfifeduckling on July 10, 2012, 05:54:41 pm
I had a broody once that eat all but one of hers, I suspect when they started hatching. She ate her own eggs, too, after. I don't think they will eat them once they are fully hatched, though! More likely rats.... :&>
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: WarescotFarm on July 10, 2012, 06:38:00 pm
well replaced today with a week old silkie and week old bantum cross. kids didn't notice - phew!
 ;D
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: Bramblecot on July 10, 2012, 07:23:28 pm
  We found it was rats underneath, pulling then down through the tiny mesh.  You wouldn't think it possible, but we saw the evidence, a
 
So you need much smaller holes in your mesh, or a solid lining around the bottom.

the same happened to our bantams last year -  >:( rats!
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: chrismahon on July 10, 2012, 08:24:27 pm
It will be rats WarescotFarm. Although another chicken is possible it is the least likely by miles- mum would have fought her off. We have 12mm weldmesh around and over ours and they are kept isolated with mum when applicable. Any bigger mesh and the chicks can get their heads through and then get bitten off. Gamekeeper friend had lots of chicks with no heads and couldn't work out why. So he watched and waited. Seems the rats frightened the chicks at one end of the pen and they stuck their heads out of the wire at the other end trying to get away and another rat was quietly waiting.
 
We don't have a base mesh because I am worried about little feet getting caught in it. So we move the run and coop daily and keep it well out in the open. The top also has plastic sheeting over the mesh for shelter.
 
So next stage before hatching again is a purpose built broody run and coop -a large rabbit hutch and run may do the job if the mesh is small enough. They also may need wind protection around the outside bottom.
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: Fleecewife on July 10, 2012, 08:50:15 pm
.....Any bigger mesh and the chicks can get their heads through and then get bitten off. Gamekeeper friend had lots of chicks with no heads and couldn't work out why. So he watched and waited. Seems the rats frightened the chicks at one end of the pen and they stuck their heads out of the wire at the other end trying to get away and another rat was quietly waiting.
 

Clever chaps  :(
 
My Mum had a similar problem years ago.  The culprit turned out to be our big ginger tomcat, sitting on top of the brooders and when the chicks popped their heads out to eat from the little troughs along the sides, he leant forwards and snapped off their heads  :o :cat:
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: in the hills on July 10, 2012, 10:55:10 pm
Corrrr blimey  :o



Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: Oneeyedhen on July 11, 2012, 08:36:49 am
So sorry about your chickies, new life is always so looked forward too and can be so gutting when it doesnt go to plan. Livestock, who'd have em >:( !!
Title: Re: HELP My 4 day old chicks have disappeared!!!!
Post by: WarescotFarm on July 11, 2012, 07:22:01 pm
I never knew rats were so clever, I would invest in a cat of that wouldn't cause the same problem. And yes you are right about the rabbit hutch I am scanning preloved right now - thanks!