TOWN OF LERAY, New York (WWNY) – Dozens of hens on a North Country farm were killed in what the owner has called a freak accident.
James Babcock says he saw what looked like a coyote at his chicken coops at his Town of LeRay farm.
Upon further inspection, he saw it was two neighborhood huskies who got loose.
He eventually shooed the dogs away but was left to pick up around 50 hens who didn’t make it through the ordeal.
“I had three coops, three of these coops full of laying hens. Now, we lost two thirds. We’re down to one coop of laying hens,” Babcock said.
“There was a lot of damage. Chickens laying on the ground. Feathers everywhere.”
Babcock and his wife spent about three-and-a-half hours sifting through the chickens he had raised from the start.
He set up a triage station for those who had been injured, like ‘Galahad.’ The lone rooster of his coop who did all he could to protect his hens.
“He doesn’t have much of a tail left. He’s a good boy,” Babcock said.
About eight hens are still recovering but Babcock isn’t confident all of them will make it.
Babcock estimates he’s out a couple thousand dollars as this will slow egg production.
“We were providing two eggs to grocers in the area. Chaumont Country Store, and Asian Market on State Street. I had to notify them we just can’t fill their orders anymore because of what happened,” said Babcock, Owner and Operator of JB Acres.
Babcock does have a couple batches of young hens but they won’t be ready to lay until mid-October.
Still, Babcock said he’s not giving up
“We’re going to rebuild, and we’ll come back and we’ll have eggs again. We just ask our customers to bear with us because it’s going to be some time until we’re fully stocked,” he said.
Babcock has been in contact with the dogs’ owners about the incident.
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