Good-bye, Bea.

[Firefighter Chick]

do you have a pet dog you can tie out by the coop tonight for peace of mind (if the dog is chicken friendly)?

 

[Mattemma]

Sad for your loss.Set some traps for the coons.I have caught 5 or 6 since I set the trap this summer.Never even knew I had them.I was trapping groundhogs.

 

[TMike]

Thank you, everyone. Yes, Bea was special to me. On the day she laid her first egg about a month ago she turned to me for help. Wouldn't leave me alone. Spent the day in my lap heaving and sighing, until I made a nest for her in a bag of hay where she laid her egg, her eyes on me the whole time. It was pretty intense, actually. And ever since we'd been close, it seems.

Anyhow, the grieving will be short-lived. The vigilance won't be. I don't know how to trap raccoons, though I'll certainly read up on it. I've put down some repellent and plan to watch the cluck tonight until I lock their coop door. Then I plan to wait for our predator friend and ... wreak whatever symbolic backyard vengeance I can.

 

[lindseythefork]

I lost the sweetest Buff Orpington about a month ago to what I thought was a raccoon, but it appears to have been a skunk. How do predators know to take the best hens?

 

[ozark_chickies]

Quote:
Not only that, why are the favorites the first to go? Also how do they know "the one time" you a late to close the door , or slip up in any way?

 

[DazeGoneBy]

Quote:
I actually have a theory on that... we can be seen as predators by our chickens - especially the flighty, nervous ones; and especially if we come at them from the top with grabby hands. But some come to trust us over time as we feed them and pet them with those same grabby outstretched hands. So, those ones become our favorites. We see them as "cuddly."

That same trusting manner probably means when a real predator gets close, the flighty, nervous ones run for the hills and are safe. Our favorite, trusting birds may even, in fact, go closer to investigate to see if the new predator has tasty treats like the other "predator"(us) does.

Of course, this might be just a bird-brained idea.