And then there were none.........

This morning I caught the male fox in a trap. Unless another pair decides to move into the now empty den I should have no more problems with fox in the near future. I would think that most pairs have already set up a den and are either nursing kits or about to produce them. But there's always next year unfortunately.

My ladies are recovering nicely and producing more than a dozen eggs a day so my egg buyers won't be shorted at all. This has been hard on all of us as altho I am a hunter of deer for my freezer, I don't go out of my way to kill for the sake of killing. These were special circumstances and I wish there could have been another way to solve the problem. I tried to use a live trap but the fox wouldn't be fooled. It called for drastic measures and that's what I took.

One down, one to go.

This morning I found a female fox in one of my traps. I now have at least one half of the killers of my beautiful chickens. I will continue to try and capture the male so this won't happen again. As of yesterday all my hens are now behind a six foot fenced in area where they will be safe from predators. I loved seeing them wander all over my three acres but now know it's not possible. Their "yard" is very large with lots of places to scratch and take dust baths. I was concerned that the older hens would be aggressive to the youngsters but other than a bit of squabbling they are settled in nicely.

Chicken update

This morning I found one survivor of the slaughter. She is hurt but still alive. Also, the game warden came out to investigate and found the scrape where the fox came under one section of fence. He also found four more bodies. That brings it to nine live, 12 dead and 12 missing. Needless to say, this is war.......

The photo is of eight of the survivors, the ninth is in a quiet place so I can deal with her injuries. Chickens being what they are I am afraid the others will pick on the hurt one. I now have five aracanas, three black astrolorps and one rhode island red.

Devastating loss

Tragedy came to Ironside in the form of a serial killer or killers. This afternoon I went out as usual about 2:30 to collect eggs and feed the raptors. All was okay so I returned to the house until time to do my final chores of the day. Approximately three hours later I headed out to put my young chickens to bed but was surprised to not see many as they usually run towards me knowing I was bringing their night snack of cracked corn. When I got closer I started seeing the bodies. I went around and gathered up eight bodies of my beautiful hens. I found eight still alive, three huddling in their house, the others wandering around seeming confused. Out of 33 hens I have eight survivors, eight dead and 17 missing. These are large chickens, well over five pounds each but something carried them off. Feathers were everywhere.

At this point I'm assuming it was a pair of fox although this took place in the middle of the day. I've had trouble in the past with one of my neighbors dogs getting in and killing a couple chickens but after my warning I've not seen them again. I am, naturally, heartbroken as I love my chickens. The older hens were also upset after hearing all that went on during the slaughter. They live behind a six foot covered fence so were okay but I would imagine my egg production will be down or non-existent in the days to come.

I have regular egg buyers but they may not get their usual delivery every week. Now I have to make the decision as to whether or not to replace the hens. If so, I will have to build another hen house for them and attach it to one of my chicken fenced in areas so this horrible crime won't happen again. They can't be put in with the older hens as they don't take to newcomers joining their flock.