We have gotten complacent and I feel horrible. I've gotten past feeling like I am going to throw up and I can only hope she didn't suffer. I'm holding out a small grain of hope that she got away and is hiding somewhere but I can't find her.
We have 2 'big girls' who've are in a small house over a coop that I close at night. We got Luna about a month ago - she was 3 months old, a beautiful Gold Wyandotte. She looks like a little hawk. She's grown like crazy since we got her, and we figured she is so fast, she can escape into the trees and underbrush during the day. She follows big girls around very closely all day long. At night, she goes into a little pet carrier that is under the hen house. I close the door to the carrier, shut the big house door, and the door to the coop. I do that after dark. Plenty late many nights. We even spent one night away from home this week, and just left the whole darn thing open. We've done that before but I usually have someone come over to close and open the door at night and in the morning.
We've got racoons but haven't seen any in our yard, and plenty of hawks and owls. Tonight has been a long night - we've got a chirping smoke alarm that's immune to battery replacement, and some time after 10pm I remembered I had not shut the girls in. When I opened the back door, I heard owls calling. When I got to the coop, I found a pile of feathers, and a little tiny bit of blood. I found one feather about 30 feet away. One feather. Not a trace of her anywhere else. The big girls inside the house, and little Luna gone. I just can't believe an owl went in there and dragged her out of that pet keeper - but there is not a single mark or trace of anything else near, and I am sure if it had been a racoon there would be more signs of struggle.
I hope it was over quickly. I feel like such a jerk. I can't believe all the nights I've gone out late and lulled into false security. She was a sweet little girl. She would jump on our shoulders when the mean girls were naughty to her. I was just looking at her little feathered feet this morning and feeding her from my hand. What is hard for me to accept - we have a very little job to do to protect them - and I screwed up. And she has paid with her life. I know it's life, the circle, other creatures eating to get by - but it is our fault. We should have been more vigilant and taken greater care.
I can hear them hooting right now. I am going to ask hubby to review the yard in the morning b/c I just can't face finding parts of her.
We have 2 'big girls' who've are in a small house over a coop that I close at night. We got Luna about a month ago - she was 3 months old, a beautiful Gold Wyandotte. She looks like a little hawk. She's grown like crazy since we got her, and we figured she is so fast, she can escape into the trees and underbrush during the day. She follows big girls around very closely all day long. At night, she goes into a little pet carrier that is under the hen house. I close the door to the carrier, shut the big house door, and the door to the coop. I do that after dark. Plenty late many nights. We even spent one night away from home this week, and just left the whole darn thing open. We've done that before but I usually have someone come over to close and open the door at night and in the morning.
We've got racoons but haven't seen any in our yard, and plenty of hawks and owls. Tonight has been a long night - we've got a chirping smoke alarm that's immune to battery replacement, and some time after 10pm I remembered I had not shut the girls in. When I opened the back door, I heard owls calling. When I got to the coop, I found a pile of feathers, and a little tiny bit of blood. I found one feather about 30 feet away. One feather. Not a trace of her anywhere else. The big girls inside the house, and little Luna gone. I just can't believe an owl went in there and dragged her out of that pet keeper - but there is not a single mark or trace of anything else near, and I am sure if it had been a racoon there would be more signs of struggle.
I hope it was over quickly. I feel like such a jerk. I can't believe all the nights I've gone out late and lulled into false security. She was a sweet little girl. She would jump on our shoulders when the mean girls were naughty to her. I was just looking at her little feathered feet this morning and feeding her from my hand. What is hard for me to accept - we have a very little job to do to protect them - and I screwed up. And she has paid with her life. I know it's life, the circle, other creatures eating to get by - but it is our fault. We should have been more vigilant and taken greater care.
I can hear them hooting right now. I am going to ask hubby to review the yard in the morning b/c I just can't face finding parts of her.
