I posted this story on my Facebook page but since nobody there understands my love of chickens I have decided to share it with fellow BYC members to get it off my chest, as it were. I've been mulling over it ever since it happened... what could I have done to prevent it? Why did it have to happen on Christmas of all days?
Anyone who raises chickens knows that they are at the bottom of the food chain and that it is nearly impossible to keep all predators away from the flock. After what will be 14 years of raising chickens as of 2015, we still have not found a totally predator-proof way of raising them without keeping them fully confined. Since putting up poultry netting across our entire pasture is not an option for us, we have only two choices: allow the birds to free range and provide as much cover areas for them as possible to run to in case of a hawk attack, which is what we did, or keeping the birds confined to a coop and small fully covered run. We regretted that decision on Christmas day.
A hawk decided to make one of our chickens his Christmas dinner... and that chicken was our beloved Scooter, our 3 year old Serama rooster who started our Serama flock when I hatched him from eggs purchased from California. He was late to hatch. He had difficulty hatching and had to be pulled out of his egg as a chick. He was our "miracle" and after that became the friendliest rooster we ever had, as if he were grateful for saving his life. He never bit us once and would come up to us to sit on our laps or to be held. Unlike most bantams we've had, he wasn't afraid of people. Since we had him from birth, losing him was like losing a member of the family and I just HAD to share his story to those who understand. I loved Scooter like a cat or dog. He meant much more to me than "just a chicken" as someone rudely pointed out on Facebook.
Anyways, thank you for all who have read this. Hope you all had a great holiday!
P.S. This is a photo of Scooter raising his babies. When his hens would kick the babies out of the nest, he would take over. He protected his hens very strongly and I believe that may have been what he was doing when the hawk took him because one of his hens was also very rugged afterwards. He was also gentle on the hens, not aggressive when it came to mounting them and wouldn't constantly crow like most roosters. He meant a lot to us. R.I.P. Scooter 08/21/211-12/25/14
Anyone who raises chickens knows that they are at the bottom of the food chain and that it is nearly impossible to keep all predators away from the flock. After what will be 14 years of raising chickens as of 2015, we still have not found a totally predator-proof way of raising them without keeping them fully confined. Since putting up poultry netting across our entire pasture is not an option for us, we have only two choices: allow the birds to free range and provide as much cover areas for them as possible to run to in case of a hawk attack, which is what we did, or keeping the birds confined to a coop and small fully covered run. We regretted that decision on Christmas day.
A hawk decided to make one of our chickens his Christmas dinner... and that chicken was our beloved Scooter, our 3 year old Serama rooster who started our Serama flock when I hatched him from eggs purchased from California. He was late to hatch. He had difficulty hatching and had to be pulled out of his egg as a chick. He was our "miracle" and after that became the friendliest rooster we ever had, as if he were grateful for saving his life. He never bit us once and would come up to us to sit on our laps or to be held. Unlike most bantams we've had, he wasn't afraid of people. Since we had him from birth, losing him was like losing a member of the family and I just HAD to share his story to those who understand. I loved Scooter like a cat or dog. He meant much more to me than "just a chicken" as someone rudely pointed out on Facebook.
Anyways, thank you for all who have read this. Hope you all had a great holiday!
P.S. This is a photo of Scooter raising his babies. When his hens would kick the babies out of the nest, he would take over. He protected his hens very strongly and I believe that may have been what he was doing when the hawk took him because one of his hens was also very rugged afterwards. He was also gentle on the hens, not aggressive when it came to mounting them and wouldn't constantly crow like most roosters. He meant a lot to us. R.I.P. Scooter 08/21/211-12/25/14