First of all I am loving the pink kitchen. We are remodeling the hosue we live in right now and I wanted to do a pink and green watermelon kitchen but that got vetoed real quick. I dont want the standand chickens or apples or whatever. I think we are going with yellow and green lemon lime theme. Get the picture that I like birght stuff? lol
On sadder news my chicken flock has been devastated. An unknown predator, fox or raccoon took two young pullet cochins a few days apart. Out of my flock they didnt have the greatest survival instinct to begin with. I liked them though because they would come up to you and were easy to pick up. Anyways, gone in midday, puff of feathers, and then a small trail that dissapears at the end of the woods. I still am going crazy that I loose the trail once they enter the woods. As fluffy as cochins are I really think I should be able to find feathers in all the briars and brush. Anyways they must have came again night before last and whatever it was angered my dad's hunting dogs enough that they busted out of thier fence. I see logic in the dogs not caring abotu whatever came during the day because they are usually sleeping and they get hunted at night. These dogs are 5 years old and have never tried to escape. One time part of the fence broke and they stood there with a stupid look on thier face sort of afraid to leave thier safety zone. So yeah, whatever this was drove them mad and they interupted it's little killing spree on my juvinile coop. I am assuming it got away because they are trained to leave the animal alone after they kill it and I cant find any bodies anywhere. So I was leaning very heavily towards fox, but the damage to my juvinile coop looks kinda raccoonish. It's a 4x6 rectangle boxed in with 1x4s and surrounded by quarter inch mesh with some pieces of wood layed on the top and leaned against the side for shade. The mesh is ripped from the frame and the bottom is busted out of it. This coop is about 2 foot off the ground right next to my adult coop. There are no scratches or dig marks around my adult coop. I tend to think of foxes as diggers, would they come up into a coop lifted off the ground?
Also, once I get this predator thing figured out and coops rebuilt and stronger I will be wanting to get more chickens. I'd like to get them at least 6-8 weeks old. Is there a time a year when chickens that age are more availible than others, like a season?
On sadder news my chicken flock has been devastated. An unknown predator, fox or raccoon took two young pullet cochins a few days apart. Out of my flock they didnt have the greatest survival instinct to begin with. I liked them though because they would come up to you and were easy to pick up. Anyways, gone in midday, puff of feathers, and then a small trail that dissapears at the end of the woods. I still am going crazy that I loose the trail once they enter the woods. As fluffy as cochins are I really think I should be able to find feathers in all the briars and brush. Anyways they must have came again night before last and whatever it was angered my dad's hunting dogs enough that they busted out of thier fence. I see logic in the dogs not caring abotu whatever came during the day because they are usually sleeping and they get hunted at night. These dogs are 5 years old and have never tried to escape. One time part of the fence broke and they stood there with a stupid look on thier face sort of afraid to leave thier safety zone. So yeah, whatever this was drove them mad and they interupted it's little killing spree on my juvinile coop. I am assuming it got away because they are trained to leave the animal alone after they kill it and I cant find any bodies anywhere. So I was leaning very heavily towards fox, but the damage to my juvinile coop looks kinda raccoonish. It's a 4x6 rectangle boxed in with 1x4s and surrounded by quarter inch mesh with some pieces of wood layed on the top and leaned against the side for shade. The mesh is ripped from the frame and the bottom is busted out of it. This coop is about 2 foot off the ground right next to my adult coop. There are no scratches or dig marks around my adult coop. I tend to think of foxes as diggers, would they come up into a coop lifted off the ground?
Also, once I get this predator thing figured out and coops rebuilt and stronger I will be wanting to get more chickens. I'd like to get them at least 6-8 weeks old. Is there a time a year when chickens that age are more availible than others, like a season?
We're going to pick more blackberries on Saturday and do it again. Figs should be ready next. 
