It’s a bad day here. Last night we came back home after dusk and went out to lock up the chickens. Only to find that there were no chickens – just a pile of feathers where the chickens used to be.
When we got the chicks almost exactly a year ago we recall the farmer saying to us "you only have to forget once and the fox will be in there". Well that's exactly what happened last night, we forgot to put on the electric fence and now have to take full responsibility for the demise of the chickens. We're not the only one to have suffered – our neighbours have had theirs taken on two occasions and have told us not to lose heart, but try again in a few months time.
We were slightly concerned about how the children might react at the news that their pets had been eaten. We needn’t have worried too much, our son wanted to exact revenge by shooting the fox next time and our unsentimental daughter commented "well Lester did bite me…can I get a chicken that doesn’t bite next time"
Despite this outward appearance of not being too phased, we are all very sad to have lost our faithful and friendly egg producers.
Henny Penny, Lester, Defender and Sarrie - RIP - you'll be missed by all of us.
Oh TinyFarmer, I am so sorry to hear this news.We have been keeping hens in our suburban back garden for two years now and ever since we saw a fox traversing our front garden, we've turned 'Cluckinghen Palace' into a fortress with 7 foot high fences. But it is still a worry as we are so fond of our girls.
ReplyDeletePlease keep going with the hen-keeping. It is the BEST activity for all of us who aim to be self-sufficient.
Best of luck!
Thanks for your encouraging comments, we'll certainly keep going with the hen-keeping and have already started to look for replacements. Think we'll end up with a bit of a fortress too.
ReplyDeleteCluckinghen Palace - that sounds brilliant.
Cheers