Last night was so beautiful I took my dog for a walk down the road we live on. As we went down our long driveway I saw what I thought was a young deer standing in our field, silhouetted against the corn in the neighboring field. I thought it odd that it didn't run. The sun was going down, and our barn was still open, but since sometimes our chickens stay out later when the weather is nice, I didn't close it. My dog didn't notice the deer, or whatever it was, and we went down the road out of sight, but for some reason, I was uneasy about the open barn, so we didn't go far. We turned around after about a quarter mile, and came back. The deer, or whatever it was, was still there, but this time it ran when it saw us, straight towards the open barn! As soon as it ran, another animal, looked like a coyote or dog, came out of the corn and ran after the first one. Both dissapeared behind the barn. It was really surreal, for some reason. Now I'm not sure if animal number one was a young deer or a very large coyote. I closed the barn and took a head count, all present and accounted for. Anyway, today, another beautiful day, my DS opened the barn up around 10:00AM and left for work. I thought it was weird that the chickens didn't come up to the house, so a half hour later I went to the barn as I knew there must be something wrong, they were so quiet. They were all hiding, so...I took a head count and could not account for one, Suzy Q, but she is a very large Delaware hen. Later I found a few (but not many) white and black feathers just outside the barn door, mixed up with a small pile of straw. I'm beginning to think a coyote got her, she was too big for a hawk to pick up, and there was no blood, just the feathers, and a llittle sign of a struggle. I mean, maybe it was from something else, she could've been still hiding, but it was just a weird scenario. Although we have always had coyotes around, we have never had a problem with them preying on our chickens, that I know of, anyway. Not necessarily looking for a solution, I just thought it was a sort of interesting story...hopefully Suzy Q will show up, I will look again soon.
