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So many of our babies have gone to heaven...It is Rubbish collection day today and I am really glad for that. Normally I have... maybe about three or four bags of rubbish in it for the week. This week there are also 12 dead chickens in it...
Yes, two nights ago we had a pack of foxes or dogs visit us. That was the first night that Russell and I changed the boy's night routine, letting them stay up till 8pm. This totally threw me out. Was also Russell's 44th Birthday and he was still home. He was going to work the next morning at 4am.
In the end I totally forgot to shut away the chooks, guinea fowl and ducks. The geese are roamers anyway but the stick around the house mainly. That is fine with me. Daisy the goose is laying still but all the eggs are disappearing so am wondering if there is a goanna around somewhere. No snakes to see and there is no leftovers at all. I don't think that they are eating them themselves...
Back to the slaughter. Sorry. In the morning I saw a young rooster that was really wet. I wondered what on earth was going on... Walked towards the chookhouse and saw 12 dead chickens all over the place. They were spread from near the shed to one of our paddocks. One is even in next door's paddock that I can't get to...
Except for one Pekin Rooster and one D'uccle female all the little ones are gone. So is the meat rooster and hen... I loved that little guy so much and posted about him not long ago. He sadly was the first one that I saw. I couldn't find about 15-20 of the chooks. Most of my layers are gone. The beasts actually got into the chookhouse and lined up their killings up for me...
To say that we are devastated is an understatement. Timothy doesn't attach himself easily to things but when he does and something like this happens it just destroys him. Joshua also was inconsolable. All day there was a sick horrible feeling in my stomach. What had I done!!!!
From now on to avoid this EVER happening again, we have set an alarm on my phone. Have allot of those on my phone... milk Lorray, Tablets for Timothy, Bins out, etc, etc.
We will not forget again... Went and saw Brian yesterday after school and got another lot of chooks to make up for the ones that we lost. Lots of little ones that were cheaper and also a girl for the Pekin and a boy for the D'uccle. They are getting to know one another as we speak.
Three came back yesterday from wherever they happened to escape to... Hope more come back. Hard lesson in life to learn this one... Hope it NEVER ever happens again.
Cheers Damaris
2 comments:
So sorry to hear about your chickens Damaris. Our chickens had a large, fully fenced enclosure with lots of room to roam ... at least an acre of space, so no need to go down to lock them away each night... so easy to forget. I know I would do this and the kids would too. We thought they were secure but the first to go were the ducks, one by one over a series of nights. Then several chickens. We didn't think this serial killer was a fox as they tend to go in for mass murder, I suspect yours was a fox or dog. Do goannas actually take chooks or just eggs? I'm not sure but we always find them up the tree in the enclosure. And snake removal is a regular task in the warmer weather... somehow they find a hole and squeeze through but we have not lost a chook to a snake yet. In the end we electrified the fence. We live close to state forest and there are wild dogs out there.
I don't think I know of anyone who has not lost chickens to some kind of animal. Hope your new chickens quickly settle in and become part of the family soon. The chickens we bought to replace our taken ones have served us well, 18 months old, ex-commercial free rangers which cost us $5 each. We didn't name this lot after losing the cast of 'Lord of the Rings... Frodo and friends' but the nameless chooks survived! Ironic! They are laying less eggs these days, so it looks like we will be replacing them soon.
It's easy to forget. I've caught myself once, not locking the run gate. When I went to feed them the next morning, I was shocked that it wasn't locked. Now I'm paranoid. I'll probably check it twice before going in for the night now.
But it just takes one day when you're too busy, for predators to take advantage. Luck is why I didn't lose any, but I'm sorry the foxes weren't so considerate at your place.
Hope the chickens keep turning up for you.
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