Thanks for the welcome! The saddest part about the chickens we lost was that they weren't even in the coop. They were free ranging in the middle of the day RIGHT beside the house. We have had them over a year and always let them do this. There has never been an issue. 2 were getting into the garage, so my hubby stuck them in the back yard inside the fence earlier in the day. They were the only 2 that survived. A couple of weeks later, my daughter was trying to herd the two chickens into the coop from the backyard, and they wouldn't cooperate. I was in the middle of something, but told her they should be fine out there until I finished what I was working on. 20 minutes later, they were both gone. That time I was really upset. One was the rooster, and he was rotten so I wasn't upset about him. But the other was my fave hen! She is just a mix we got locally, but she's really nice and a great layer. She actually seems to like people. She is little and really fast, and I appreciated her spunk. So, I was super angry at that coyote and figured he must have been staking out our house to get them so quickly. Well, the next morning, my favorite hen (Candy Cane) was back in her coop! She is fast and a little flighty, so she must have gotten into a tree or something. She was a little traumatized, and lost all of the feathers on her belly and even some on her head. She was already pretty bald on the back from that rooster, so she looked terrible. But, I have never been so excited to see a chicken! Even with the loneliness and trauma, she still layed an egg every day. To keep her company, we got a hen and rooster from a friend that was looking for a home for them. They are beautiful white silkies, and we just love them! Our first rooster was the meanest creature I have ever met. He was a mutt and attacked me and the children regularly. I still have a scar on my knee from him. So, this sweet little docile silky hen has been such a blessing! Candy Cane likes her new friends even though the silky hen usually eats her eggs. Her feathers are coming in nicely, except the ones on her wing tips where the rooster plucked them mercilessly. We are just waiting for the chicks to get big enough to put them all together. The 3 we have are pretty small, so I hope it won't be much longer. The chicks are only about a month old, but the Americaunas are supposed to get pretty big, right? I am looking forward to learning from the wealth of knowledge here!
