Bees Killed My Chicken :-(

[TBRNoTB]

One of my chooks ate a load of small bits of rubber after we had the builders in and was at death's door. I almost put her out of her misery as she couldn't stand or open her eyes but in the end I force fed her peas (frozen ones zapped in the microwave with a little water to defrost them) mixed up with layer's mash. Also 5 -10 ml of water at each feeding with a small syringe. She pulled though just fine and now looks the healthiest of the bunch (only four of them).

I know it's not the same problem that you have but just to say they do bounce back remarkably. I kept this one indoors inside a dog crate for a week!

I'm often worried with them scratching around in front of the hives - they take particular interest during inspections too - maybe time to get them fenced off from the danger before I suffer the same fate. Sorry that you lost one.

Do the eggs bounce as well?

 

[suechick]

I know that you may find this a bit yukky but give your chicken one whole raw egg (no shell). it is like a protein pack and will zip them up. Even when ill they will know exactly what to do with it.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I know that you may find this a bit yukky but give your chicken one whole raw egg (no shell). it is like a protein pack and will zip them up. Even when ill they will know exactly what to do with it.

And if the chicken just happens to turn into an egg eater at a later date,just wring its neck.

 

[beebreeder]

Your brave tonight HM

 

[BBG]

In the old days

They had a maxim that ran along like so:

If it looks sick, kill it and eat it before it dies!

 

[Jeff Buzz]

had mixed emotions this afternoon whilst watching some 3 day old ducklings picking off flying bees in area round water trough.

I had a duckling eating my bees last year until he got stung in the throat.

One dead duckling....

 

[drstitson]

alternative to feeding egg is cat food - poultry love it and great protein boost eg when moulting.

 

[oliver90owner]

Isn't that like feeding dead chickens to chickens (with some cat foods)? Harps back to BSE.

 

[AnotherNewBee]

Do the eggs bounce as well?

Obviously they're rubber chickens.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Isn't that like feeding dead chickens to chickens

My old cat (RIP now) used to vomit quite often and the chooks beat eachother up to get to it. They also found a baby bird and tore it to shreds......horrible things,chooks,really. They even have dinosaur feet

 

[Luminos]

My old cat (RIP now) used to vomit quite often and the chooks beat eachother up to get to it. They also found a baby bird and tore it to shreds......horrible things,chooks,really. They even have dinosaur feet

I once saw one of my hens take a mouse off my cat, which my cat had spent hours stalking and catching!

 

[daj198]

She's looking a bit better this morning. Very sleepy (not sure if that's the piriton though!). She's not keen on eating anything at the moment so I might have to give her some egg by a straw later. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[susbees]

alternative to feeding egg is cat food - poultry love it and great protein boost eg when moulting.

And probably illegal...as is the occasional dropped bread crust ours may accidentally get...ahem.

Sorry about the chicken. Hope the other pulls through.

We have a no livestock/no pets/no unsuited visitors policy on the apiary. Rarely one of the cats goes through, occasionally a bliddy sheep (fences being replaced this month) and the pheasants seem to know better.

You wouldn't take an unsuited child onto the apiary so why expect animals to take care of themselves ?

 

[blodwen]

I will quickly lower the tone one more notch - my hens used to follow my dog around when they knew he 'had to go' - they ate his poo like it was coming out of a vending machine - I don't eat eggs now!!

 

[Oscarmonster]

One of my dogs followed one of our chooks yesterday, rather too closely! Betty Bad Leg has now only 2 tail feathers, but lives to fight another day.

 

[AnotherNewBee]

A dog (a red merle collie), not far from where I live, lives for her chickens. Every moment she can spare she sits with them and keeps an eye on them. It's sometimes difficult to persuade her to go for a walk! When she gets back she rushes back to 'her' chooks where she's happiest. She doesn't even bother coming round to see who's knocking at the front door.

 

[susbees]

One of my dogs followed one of our chooks yesterday, rather too closely! Betty Bad Leg has now only 2 tail feathers, but lives to fight another day.

We've got one of those...beautiful tame Pekin bantam cockerel nipped in next door last week where they don't mind him: but their holiday cottage "guests" had a terrier cross. He now has ONE tail feather.

 

[LittleGreyRabbit]

I moved the queen from my hive today to complete an artificial swarm. They got VERY angry and attacked me (only got stung once, thanks to the suit), and the chickens. One chicken is dead and the other badly stung.

Sorry to hear about your chook. My hives are positioned so that the bees have to fly up and over the fence, in the opposite direction to the chicken run which is 8-10ft behind the hive. Normally I don't see any bees near the run. When I am supervising their daily free-ranging, my hens forage around and beneath the hives but I deliberately made the stand about 2ft high so that they could not lie in wait by the entrance picking off bees as they landed or emerged. But having read about your awful experience I will be more alert to what is happening while the hens are out.

Hope your surviving chook pulls through.

Edited to add: when I am doing a hive inspection, I put the hens away in the run first because it would be too distracting to have them moving around and perhaps trying to take a close interest in what was going on.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Mine pootle around the hives except when I'm inspecting. The cockerel sees me in my kit with the smoker alight and calls his hens away.

 

[daj198]

She's doing much better now- she's eating and drinking without the need for prompts. I let her out this morning (far away from the hives) and she was chased by a bee and stung. The other chickens are fine which leads me to believe that they can still smell the stings on her. How long will it take for that to go?

They're still being very aggressive... A couple of members of the family were sure they were chased by bees yesterday :-/