Well let's start with the awful chicken murders. yes, we have, for the first time in 9 years, predators attack our flock. It as awful, each day I'd find another chicken missing it's head or gone. Then after many attempts at fixing the fence, electrifying the fence, locking them up at night, putting out a flashing light at night, live traps (all I caught was my cat) and sitting in my car with a shotgun (ok I didn't have a shot gun, but I thought about it), nothing worked. One afternoon we saw a fox walk right into the pasture in the middle of the afternoon! We also figured out that the thing that just bites off the head is a weasel. So not only did we have one evil predator - we had two!
The last night they got some free food was the last straw. I went out to lock them up, and there were 4 hens, killed! One still breathing but with his neck covered in fang marks (or what ever weasels have). I was pissed! I locked up the remaining chicken, the one remaining duck and my friend's two ducks (lucky he never got them!) I was babysitting and put a message into my friend to see if she would take them for a week until I went down to Illinois to return the ducks to their summer home on the pond. She agreed.
I left her my one remaining chicken and took my friend's duck and my remaining duck down to Illinois the next weekend and placed them on the pond. poor Uno! She had no idea what to do! Compared to her little kiddy pool, this must've looked like an ocean!
So now my little old chicken run is barren and sad. I so miss the laughter of the ducks and the sound of the chickens when they announce how happy they are they laid an egg. And now no eggs! Not sure what I'll do now, perhaps wait until next year to get some more because I don't want that darn weasel or fox to come back.
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