[Nobodyandnothing]

This is probably in the wrong place. My son was raising chickens in our backyard (we are in an area where it is allowed and the homes are on an acre or more, no one lives close and no one has complained and there are no roosters so no noise). My son has ADHD, depression and anxiety. Someone slaughtered 10 chickens and his duck who thought he was a chicken last night. They were decapitated. The coop was completely enclosed so we have ruled out an animal. Only 4 chickens survived. Fortunately, it was our neighbor and not our son who discovered this sick act.

My son is shocked and saddened. I am going to try to get him in to see his pdoc and T this week. Does anyone have any other suggestions? We are calling the sheriff, but I doubt the sickos who did this will be found.

These chickens and the duck were raised by my son since they were a month old. He worked hard to feed, water, keep the coop clean, etc. the coop was a labor of love for him. The chickens were treated like pets.

There are some very evil people in this world.

[Domico]

Oh no! That's terrible, I'm so sorry to hear that. My family has some chickens of our own as pets, I can only imagine how shocking this all is. People can be so cruel.

I honestly don't have suggestions other than what you've probably already considered; keeping him distracted with other activities that won't stress him out too much, just generally being there for him...Although my brother doesn't have depression, he has ADHD and anxiety; when he was younger, we would take him out to the movies or go out and enjoy nature through hiking, it seemed to alleviate some of his lows by not allowing him to ruminate too much. I don't know if either of these things would work well for your son since everyone's got different circumstances.

Again, I'm so sorry for your loss. My thoughts go out to you and your family.

Ohhh, I am so, so sorry. What a horrifying experience. And a frightening one. You are wise to get your son in to his p-doc and therapist asap. Best of luck with this...so sad.

[MotownJohnny]

Actually, that is very typical of mink attacking young fowl/poultry. they decapitate and eat the head and lick up the blood as it spurts from the arteries. The can squeeze their bodies through an opening less than an inch across. Weasles will do the same, they are a little bigger though.

I raised all kinds of poultry, waterfowl , and game birds for years and saw that a number of times.

From your description of the incident, it sounds like what happened. But I wasn't there, obviously.

Human or animal, it is still a tough thing for your son and you. So sorry.

[Nobodyandnothing]

Thanks everyone. We will do some research about mink and weasels, MotownJohnny. I would like to find out it was an animal and not a person or people. Maybe I spoke in haste. In the meantime, his T already called me back and made an appointment for my son on Tuesday.

You are all so very kind.

[Perna]

I remember my neighbor had a duck nest in her yard with 10 eggs in it and one morning woke to all the eggs broken, etc. and it was decided a fox got into it. I know in my area more foxes are being seen and we have no bunnies around like we usually do in the summer

[Nobodyandnothing]

Whatever it was just came back and killed the last four chickens. They are all gone.

[lizardlady]

I'm so sorry this happened to your son's birds. I had the same thing happen years ago. Possums will also kill poultry and only eat the head. It is gruesome to find. Thank heavens your son was not the one to find them.

Maybe it would help your son to have some sort of good-bye ceremony for his pets?

[venusss]

Maybe it would help your son to have some sort of good-bye ceremony for his pets?

I was about to say... let him go through the grief process. Let him be sad for a while and if he doesn't want to be distracted with overload of happy things... don't push it.

(and I am all for asking a T to help him through it, but I am hesitant to see usefulness of a pdoc at this moment. Medicating grief could be dangerous.)

[UnderRugSwept]

I am so sorry for both you and your son. It's a great idea lizardlady had about the ceremony...acknowledging his connection with them/love for them as well as letting him grieve is very important.

I also hope it was an animal and not a person, although it's still a gruesome and horrible thing to have happen.

Hugs to both of you.

[SnakeCharmer]

We had the same thing happen in our chicken coop. We did think at first it was an evil person, but it turned out to be a critter getting in and out of the coop through a knot hole the size of a nickle that we didn't even notice until it was too late. It was a terrible experience, but it did help to realize that we didn't have to worry about some evil person in our back yard. We'd protected heavily against possums, skunks and racoons, all of which can do heavy damage. We didn't even know there were weasels, mink and ferret in the area. The mink and ferrets were escapees from people's homes and ranches. Now they're all over.

My condolences to you and your son. It's a very upsetting and heartbreaking experience. I'm sending you hugs, but only time will help heal the shock and sorrow.

[Hellion]

That is horrible, I cannot see why people do crap like that...I mean i guess since I have studied psychology and sociology I am aware of some of what goes into it but still, it sickens me.

[MotownJohnny]

Anything in the weasel family will do that. Most areas of the US have one species or another - the desert SW may not, I'm unsure.

Because whatever it was came back and killed the rest, it is very unlikely it was a human. If your pen was pretty tight, no holes/gaps bigger than an inch or so, my money would still be on a mink or weasel.

I, too, believe it was most likely an animal who has killed the chickens and duck. I am so, so sorry for you and your son...what a cruel thing to go through. I hope the therapy appointment is helpful.

[Nobodyandnothing]

Thank you all so much. I didn't mean to sound paranoid but I was sure someone was involved. I have a glass half empty mentality.

Anyway...yes, it was a critter and my faith in humanity may be restored. I communicated with a kind soul on Craigslist who had some chickens for sale. When I explained what happened, he said he would give some to my son, and not only that but his daughter eould pick out some of the most people friendly ones for him (he had raised his from chicks and they really were his pets).

Not happily ever after, but a nice ending.

P.S. he is rebuilding his coop to make it more critter proof.

Such good news!

[birdpumpkin]

I'm so sorry this happened. We have 4 chickens my son enjoys taking care of, too. It is true about the minks or other animals, though. Saw it on Call of the Wildman not too long ago. (Love that man!!) But still has to be so gruesome to find and hard for your son. I get very attached to animals so I know would be hard to deal with.

[Mike_J]

I'm sorry this happened, something similar happened when I was a child. 3 or 4 chickens killed each night until they were all gone. We tried to seal up the shed but we could never figure out how the animal was getting in. In our case it was never a concern that it was a person we were very isolated.