This may be a fairly depressing post, as its been that kind of week. I had reported that we were expecting puppies, as I really thought that we were. When I took Maya for an x-ray on Thursday to get a head count, we discovered that it was just a very convincing false pregnancy:( We’ll try again next time, but Maya is almost 7 so there won’t be many more opportunities for another litter from her.
We had taken the weekend off from trials since we expected to be on puppy watch. Instead today turning into a major clean up day. I went out this morning to feed the critters and discovered that something, most likely a fox, had gotten into the chicken coop. One of the girls was totally gone and another was badly injured. The other two were visibly stressed but seem to be ok. When we first got chickens 3 years ago I worried about this happening a lot, but we’ve been really lucky so this came as a shock. The coop is now returned to maximum security status. Originally it had a wire floor to prevent anything from digging in, but when the wire rotted we hadn’t replaced it because the girls like to dust bathe. They can still use their outdoor pen when we are home, but at night and when we aren’t home they are going into protective custody with the wire floor. It’s too late in the season to start chicks, but I think I’ll try to find 1-2 pullets to keep Betsy and Ethel, the surviving hens, company.
Hopefully the next week will be better.
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