Well, not a good October for me. I lost my German Shepherd 2 weeks ago, a major loss.
Today I found out how it doesn't pay to ever let your guard down. My run is, I believe, as predator proof as I can make it. Wire fencing, hardware cloth up the bottom 2 feet and buried into the ground, A few weeks ago I opened a runway between my run and my garden. This garden is double fenced, 6' chain link outside with chicken wire as an inside liner just to keep the small critters like squirrels and birds out. Today I'm in my bedroom (which adjoins the run and is about 10' from the garden. I hear chickens being rowdy. I run out and there are 2 large mongrel dogs in my garden.
I forgot when I opened up the run to the garden that I didn't have a wire underlayment on the ground to keep digging pests from digging into the garden. They had dug into my garden from the county property which adjoins my outside fence. To make a long story short, I'm down a Barred Rock who was one of my best layers, and my favorite EE, the dark brown one that looks like an eagle. Sorry Wendell that I failed to take better care of your birds. It could have been worse, if I hadn't heard them, they had free access from the garden to the run/coop. It could have been all my birds.
I'm trying not to beat myself up too badly about not realizing something out on the county property could dig in; When I had my Shepherd this would never have happened., and when I lost her I never thought about how that changed my yard security. I'm just going to have to consider it a learning moment.