I'm totally numb

[MarkR]

Me too!

 

[bantymum]

Hi Mark, im glad he /she hasnt returned, do they go dormant in winter?
Perhaps you could put a little notice at your local shop warning about the bear and you can have a little survey on the notice which says date: time spotted: locality:
Then you may find out if someone has shot it etc.
We do the same here for burglaries in our area.
date: street: and it scares them off!!!

 

[MarkR]

They don't truly hybernate here and can still be pretty active for short periods.

Anyway, work on the coop progresses and should be done in the next couple of weeks. Things move much more slowly when school is in session. Cyn's eggs got here this afternoon and will be going into the school incubator tomorrow morning. Looking at the pictures of parents that she sent me, I'm going to have a very beautiful flock in a few weeks. Okay, I'm going to have a very young cheeping flock in a few weeks, and a more beautiful flock in a few months. I'm just so psyched!

Cyn, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Mark

 

[speckledhen]

You're so welcome, Mark! I sure hope your hatch goes well and you have lots of little beauties cheeping their heads off in three weeks. Naturally, I will require photos, LOL.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

I just found this thread and feel so sad for all those little chickens that must have been terrified out of their minds and for your loss of all those sweet pets. Hope your new babies are safe!! Take good care!!

 

[silkiechicken]

Just caught up with the thread and yeah, now that I know there was a tree, I can fully see the bear dong the disaster! At first I was wondering how a bear climbed the fence and didn't break it... sure sounds like he can now. Good luck!

 

[MarkR]

Sadly, the tree is no more, but I'll remember it when it's dried and goes into the outdoor clay oven I'm getting ready to build. It was a little sour cherry (we have 3 or 4 others) that I'll miss, but it had to be sacrificed.

Cyn, the pictures will be posted starting in about 3 weeks.

Mark

 

[chatham400]

So sorry to hear about this tragedy Mark. Just catching up on the forum and came upon this post and had to relive some sad moments we experienced here just about a year ago. My son was home and responsible for closing up the coop and mistakenly missed hooking the latch completely.

Long story short, it was a gruesome discovery in the AM. All of my standards were destroyed, including my beloved CB, a WC Black Polish rooster, whose picture we would later find out was published in Storey's Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds. They happened to be photographing for this book while my son was showing at the New England Poultry show and his picture was chosen to be used. It was nice to see him in print, but brought back lots of sadness and anger. We have recently replenished our flock, the two little banty show birds just weren't pumping out quite enough eggs And just yesterday, I was able to get a show quality bantam WC Black Polish! Yeah! Sorry, got side tracked (I'm a little excited about Rocky). Whatever got my hens that night was merciless. Only two were dragged off and destroyed, CB and one other hen, the others just killed and left. Maybe coon, maybe fisher?!?!

About 2 months ago, my kids' tree fort where I store my feed in metal cans, was raided and about 25 lbs of food eaten in one night. Some neighbors also think bear around here...but, not sure. HUGE pile of "stuff" left behind, apparently whatever it was was not house broken. Luckily my birds were buttoned up tight that night, but I always am extremely anxious on my morning walk to let them out. You just never know.

Hope things are looking up for you Mark. My heart goes out to you!

 

[speckledhen]

Hey, Mark, what kind of bator are you using at school? The high school here hatches chicks, too.

 

[millefleur]

I have been where you are emotionally. Last year a raccoon climbed an eight foot fence, ripped the netting off the top, and then climbed up 10 feet in my barn to get seven of my eight chickens who were roosting in the rafters. I now lock the chicken door at night after every day I let the new flock out into their yard.

I did have one interesting and heart-warming thing happen. The one remaining (terrified) Faoumi x Hamburg hen brooded eggs three weeks later and raised one hen to maturity. And so, the fourth generation of my 11-year-old Hamburg rooster who was killed is still going strong.

I live in Montana, and raccoons are only a small part of potential chicken-killers, although I have had the most problem over the years with small dogs owned by unthinking neighbors.