It is a difficult balance when you begin to take in other animals making up the eclectic mix that soon becomes a small farm. We began with E & E when we made the decision to keep them on our property, then when we purchased these 11 acres.
Our next step was bringing home Charlie Boy, Sandra, and Shirley. Around the first of the month, Sandra disappeared in the middle of the day. We are pretty sure a hawk or Eagle made off with her as there were no signs of a struggle such as lost feathers, nor did the chickens make any noise like they do when one of the dogs get too close.
That is when I went out and brought home Fred and Ethel, two young Silkies. They were gorgeous birds and were flourishing quite nicely. We had built a chicken coop about 30' long, five foot high and five foot wide. It wasn't quite what we wanted b/c the bottom did not fasten to anything, but it did the trick in case an overhead predator or a four-legged one tried to get to them.
It worked until Saturday.
That is when Cho, the puppy, aka known as Miss Celeste, discovered she could get in by going under the wire.
I knew something was wrong when I went to check on my birds and didn't see either one. Ethel soon came out of hiding, but I could see too many feathers lying about, a sign of a struggle. I also noticed two vultures circling. I started out toward the pasture to hunt for what I knew was probably a dead bird, but I never expected to find Cho with it.
I buried Fred, and I felt partially to blame. And I felt terrible for the way he died.
Now, I am a reasonable woman, but I am so sad my chicken died, especially such a violent death. I immediately realized as well that I had to find a partner for Ethel. Biddies were all that were available, but they require too much care. I stopped at my neighbors and he happened to have some Silkies that were a little older than biddies, but younger than Ethel. He gave me one.
So, now I have a new member of our little wanna-be farm.
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