Today we fell ‘victim’ to the circle of nature in our quiet little semi-rural home. We have three chickens that we let range freely during the day over the property in exchange for their delivery of their daily egg, and three more youngsters who should soon be ready to join the growing flock.
As mentioned in a previous post, we also have a local fox, with which we have already had one close call. So, we have been very careful of late in only letting “the girls” out when we’re in and around the garden.
Then today happened.
It was a dark, wet day and I naively thought that there wouldn’t be a problem with the usual routine. I was wrong and the seemingly inevitable happened, with one of the hens being taken by her nemesis. We spent a good hour hunting around the yard and adjoining properties, but all we could find were a few clumps of feathers. We are all pretty upset about it, unlike her two “sister” hens who now seem to just be annoyed that we’re keeping them in their (large) pen.
Ain’t nature strange…?
searching4theshot 
I’m sorry for your loss :(. We don’t have chickens yet but plan to when we relocate to WA. I’ve already got a plan for their coop and some of the supplies. I think about what will happen if I lose one or if I have to kill one for whatever reason and I’m not sure if I’m ready for that.
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You are right, it’s a bit of a “transition” for those of us that who have had largely urban lives. We’ve had loads of pets over the years and so have been used to losses in that sense but somehow it was different with this hen.
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I’m not sure I’ll be ready for that loss either. One of my dogs has cancer (I’ve blogged about Zoey) and I know it will come…I’m just not sure I’ll be ready for it.
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