The worst day

[gimmie birdies]

I am sorry about the bobcat issue.

I was out in the coop visiting just now and collecting eggs, my birds were all innocent looking up hoping for a treat, then I slipped and was going to land face first into the lot, so much for all my birds trusting me now, they squaked and flew in all directions. I was all worried I may have hurt one, as I was getting up, and my hand had "bicycle spoked" my fingers between a hen's legs and I had not landed on her after all, she didn't even run, just looked at me like "what are you doing?".

 

[turtlelaura67]

Thanks, everyone, for responding. I feel a little better now.
I agree that the only thing good about making mistakes is that if you're smart, you won't make that particular error again. I know now to say "never say never" when it comes to predators and the security of our enclosures.
I kept saying "if I had only gotten home ten minutes earlier" and finally my boyfriend said "well, what if it had been ten minutes later?" He's right. Chances are all three would be dead.
On the plus side, Coffee and Snowdrop are doing fine. I should be able to put them back out tomorrow.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Normally the hen I have to watch for is Abiggal (a big gal) my BCM she always likes to stay out because the food is outside. But last night she was in the door way and I pushed her into the coop, and thought my job was done. I cannot lose my Abiggal, I have to look harder, maybe do a head count.

 

[turtlelaura67]

I do a head count with everybody, even our cats. We have 15 cats and they're all indoors and every night before I go to bed I make sure they're all accounted for. Someone could have slipped out the door or might be hiding someplace, injured or sick.

I couldn't find one of them last night and I finally caught her sleeping with the silkies who had to come inside Friday night. Just curled up with the rooster, Cirrus.

 

[gimmie birdies]

That is cute...

Last night, I went out with the biggest flash light you can imagine, (no even bigger than that!) I shined it around at all the places you could imagine and everyone that I could tell was put away. This morning i went out thinking all would be well, and I saw a B&W laced feather "Sylvia!" I looked around and the feathers were everywhere, no body since she was a bantam. I guess the chickens at this point will have to not try and be clever and sneak sleep outdoors because that can happen. She had been shy for a long time but recently been going down for me.

 

[gimmie birdies]

Tonight I went to look at my birds to put away, my blue cochin bantam, Esmerelda, was hanging out outside, and prolly would have tried to sleep outside had I not caught her, little naughty.

 

[microchick]

Well put @Blooie.

Predators happen. It is a fact of life. My birds are penned because of the predator problems we have--everything from fox and bobcat to hawks, owls and eagles. If I ever free range my birds I will have to stand guard over them with a .22 rifle That is how bad our problem is. My coop is protected with a hot wire, metal siding and door, chain link fence and netted run. I still do not feel secure. A family of foxes last summer wiped out a lot of chicken flocks in our neighborhood. I found tracks around our coop but no losses. I was lucky, but not relieved. You can't be too overly confident when you have chickens.

And yes, I have caught raccoons and possums that are in the area in live traps. I do not catch and release. The .22 rilfe is always handy. I do not derive any joy from killing a predator. I am a card carrying carnivore, but I respect the source of what I eat and honor the life that is sacrificed so I can eat but to protect my flock, I do kill predators. But even their deaths stand for something. We live rural. Any predator we kill is taken back to the timber and left in a meadow for the vultures and other carnivores to dine on.

My best advice is to set a live trap for any predators and never let your guard down. Your flock depends upon you to keep it safe and all a predator knows is that there is a handy meal there for the taking.

Good luck and bless you. I feel your pain and am so sorry. Please do not feel too badly about killing the possum. It would only kill more of your sweet chickens if you gave it the chance.

 

[christwodog]

So sorry to hear about the loss of Cocoa, he sounds very special. Everytime I read of someone's tragic loss, I feel like I'm going thru it all over again. But as others stated, we can try to learn from the tragedy as best we can. I can recommend hot wire as a deterrent/eliminator of predators. We have 3 strands wrapped completely around the coop, at different heights and to date, 2 possums have died trying to breach the coop. Not that I want to kill them outright, but if it's between them or my chickies, they are gone.

 

[drumstick diva]

So sorry for your loss - poor Cocoa.