Can't Catch A Break!

Hi all. We've had the most lousy luck with our chickens lately. On top of everything else that has happened, we've been visited by a mystery predator.

During the late hours of the night or the darker hours of the morning, we were visited the other day by a predator we suspect to be a fox or coyote. We woke up to clumps of bloodless feathers in our yard and 9 missing birds. Four of them were pullets (young hens) from our inteded laying flock. The rest were from our younger leghorn and wyandotte flock. Among the pullets killed from our older flock was my favorite little pullet. She was a sweet, beautiful little Easter Egger we called Midas because of her pretty, all-over gold color.

So, I'm pretty depressed. In terms of money, to replace all of our missing chickens (not including ducks!) it will cost us about $80 or so. Give or take based on where we get them,  whether we get them vaccinated, and whether they are sexed or not. In terms of value to the farm and family, we lost meat, chicks, and countless eggs for consumption and profit. In terms of sentimentality, I am crushed that we've lost so many birds within a month.

You can expect (eventually) an upcoming post about predators and protection.

Thanks for reading.