death by ratsnake

Hello all,
I've been checking out the forums for a while now and just decided to join tonight, mainly for moral support!
Our bantam Cochin, Hex, just hatched out another brood on Saturday. It's here second this year, & she's such a good mom. Just a little while ago, I heard a ruckus outside and ran out to find that a large rat snake had gotten into her brooder cage and only one chick was left alive. Hex and surviving chick are now inside and secure, and we'll make that coop snakeproof tomorrow (thought it already was...) What I'm wondering is, if I were to maybe order some chicks in the mail, do you think she would accept some replacement babies? Or do you think she'll be content with one?

 

Thanks for all your kind words. Mama bear Hex is very fierce now and even gives us a hard time about changing her water, but survivor chick is growing fast. I just hope the little booger is a hen! We weren't able to find any hatchlings on such short notice, and now Survivor is a week old so we've probably missed that window of opportunity.
The rest of the flock are: three old ladies, Silverlace Wyandottes & one Buff Orpington who are at least 9 (Buffy still lays three eggs a week in nice weather!), two 5 year old Americauna ladies, one gentlemanly RIR roo, and some androgynous teenagers from Hex's last brood. (And two dogs & four cats..)

One of my cats likes to hunt things for the chickens to eat (lizards mainly). He will call them when he comes out of the woods with a prize, go find Binky (our Roo) and set the carcass down. Binky calls the girls while cat Peanut rolls around purring & watching them go to town. He also likes to join them when they are dustbathing in the sun. Anybody else have cross-species friendship stories?