I had an absolutely GORGEOUS flock of bantam Partridge Wyandottes from the top breeders in the country. I baby them. They greeted me at the fence no matter how many times I went down to see them. A month ago, I slipped on my arse as I went into their run and they all jumped on top of me like happy little puppies! My sweet sweet babies.
This morning I woke up in a good mood, was rolling around my bed with my dog, laughing, playing tug of war. My husband walked into the bedroom and I shouted "good morning" to him over the ruckus of my dog's barking and he said, "is it?"
Ut oh..not good.
He then proceeded to tell me that he was doing morning chores and he heard "our" crows going crazy, along with our guineas. He rushed around the back of our property to find an owl inside my Partridge Wyandotte pen. I just sat there with my mouth open. He said my birds were gone, he said the destruction was bad. I couldn't even cry. I just sat there. He had his head down to the floor and I said "what?"
I just couldn't imagine what else. We lost our White Jersey Giant flock a month ago to something that tore through our welded wire fencing. Now this.
He said, "I couldn't stop her. Lady killed the owl." Lady is our Great Pyrenees all 138 lbs of her. She dropped it when he told her to but she probably broke its neck. Now I feel badly.
The owl was doing what nature intended for it to do. Even though I had avian netting on top of the run, the sun must have deteriorated it enough that the owl could have gotten through it. I don't think the owl was initially after my chickens, I think it was after a rat that ran into my chicken pen and it then went after the rat. Once inside, the rat scurried away and dinner was served.
I'm sure later on that I'm going to realize that my babies are gone and I'm going to cry my eyes out. It hasn't hit yet. I have lots of chickens but these are my BABIES...or WERE my babies.
But the fact that Lady killed that owl is eating me up. Hubby told me that he had no idea what kind it was but he left it down by the woods if I wanted to see it. So I decided to go see. It's a Great Horned Owl and its beautiful. The second I saw it, I teared up. Something so beautiful yet so deadly. I really inspected it because I knew I would never get a chance to check one out up close again in my lifetime. Tears poured down my face because its such a waste.
This is probably the owl that I saw about 6 weeks ago. Just beautiful, even in death. Circle of life, I guess.
~Laurie~
This morning I woke up in a good mood, was rolling around my bed with my dog, laughing, playing tug of war. My husband walked into the bedroom and I shouted "good morning" to him over the ruckus of my dog's barking and he said, "is it?"
Ut oh..not good.
He then proceeded to tell me that he was doing morning chores and he heard "our" crows going crazy, along with our guineas. He rushed around the back of our property to find an owl inside my Partridge Wyandotte pen. I just sat there with my mouth open. He said my birds were gone, he said the destruction was bad. I couldn't even cry. I just sat there. He had his head down to the floor and I said "what?"
I just couldn't imagine what else. We lost our White Jersey Giant flock a month ago to something that tore through our welded wire fencing. Now this.
He said, "I couldn't stop her. Lady killed the owl." Lady is our Great Pyrenees all 138 lbs of her. She dropped it when he told her to but she probably broke its neck. Now I feel badly.
The owl was doing what nature intended for it to do. Even though I had avian netting on top of the run, the sun must have deteriorated it enough that the owl could have gotten through it. I don't think the owl was initially after my chickens, I think it was after a rat that ran into my chicken pen and it then went after the rat. Once inside, the rat scurried away and dinner was served.
I'm sure later on that I'm going to realize that my babies are gone and I'm going to cry my eyes out. It hasn't hit yet. I have lots of chickens but these are my BABIES...or WERE my babies.
But the fact that Lady killed that owl is eating me up. Hubby told me that he had no idea what kind it was but he left it down by the woods if I wanted to see it. So I decided to go see. It's a Great Horned Owl and its beautiful. The second I saw it, I teared up. Something so beautiful yet so deadly. I really inspected it because I knew I would never get a chance to check one out up close again in my lifetime. Tears poured down my face because its such a waste.
This is probably the owl that I saw about 6 weeks ago. Just beautiful, even in death. Circle of life, I guess.
~Laurie~
