the end of the chickens
warning: this post not for the faint of heart.
We came home on Friday to find that all our hens had been killed. Someone in the neighborhood went on vacation and left someone else in charge of their dogs. The dogs got out and got the chickens. They pushed through the chicken wire and played with them until they died, but they did not eat them or take them. What a waste.
It's upsetting. There's a lot in there. It's a lesson learned the hard way about the perceived strength of our coop. We lost animals we thought we had protected. Poor things. I really liked them. And I feel like I shouldn't be too sad about it because that's the way it is with "livestock"--they die a lot. It's part of farm (-ish) life that I am just coming to understand. I am not used to that.
We're going to start over, if we can. But it's late in the season for chicks, and I really liked the ones I had.
reminds me of the time we had some baby chicks in the house, in an incubator, a cat got in through a window while we were away and carried them off. :(
We had a nice flock that our own dog took out. He is part weimereiner.. which is a bird dog breed, and he had gotten loose New Year's Eve 1999. We hunted everywhere for him that night, but could not find him in our very rural area. At some point during the night, he managed to frighten the chickens out of their cinder block home, and he killed and buried the chickens in our large veggie garden.
We awoke on New Year's Day to feathers all over the yard. (After the intial shock and upset, we began to tell people our chickens simply were not Y2K compatible) We were glad to see the dog back... but we could not find the chickens anywhere, until our middle son, about age 4, came running to us shouting..."No more need to worry mommy... there are new chickens coming up in the garden!" Yes, buried feet up, the chickens were planted in the garden. Too bad it was not as simple as plucking them out of the ground!
It's the way things happen sometimes, but the fact that it was neighbor dogs and not a raccoon or something almost makes it worse.
It's a little late in the season for chicks (just a little, not too much) but you could probably acquire some young chickens about the same age if you ask around. I'm getting to this late so maybe you guys have already decided?
Hope to see you soon...
I love San Francisco...haven't been there in years but really would love to get back someday soon and take the kids..
Peggy in NJ