Grieving the Great Chicken Massacre of 2010

It's been hard to face the reality that we have again been invaded by a chicken predator. Two weeks ago Dave went out to see a movie by himself and when he returned, he discovered that my favorite chicken was missing and his favorite chicken was injured.

My chicken was a small grey hen who laid the most adorable green eggs. She was mouthy, but very personable. She was bold and funny. She got along well with all the other chickens.

Dave's favorite is a large Buff Orpington chicken who is the most beautiful color of orange. She laid large dark brown eggs that I loved to use for baking. We affectionately named the chicken "Pirate" because the fox took one of her eyes. We nursed her back to health and have given her to our neighbor who is much more experienced in the care of chickens than we are.

We think it was a fox this time. I really don't like foxes right now.

The chickens were all terrified. Egg production has gone way down. I haven't had to buy any eggs for 8 months. Now I'm adding a dozen eggs to my grocery list this week. We still have 6 chickens and we're hoping they recover soon from their trauma.

We do have a pretty good record, it has been a year since the last senseless slaughter of chickens and our kids did not witness any of it this time. Those are two very good things. Hoping for a better future as we continue to "micro farm."

Chickens

The idea of raising our own eggs really appealed to us.  We knew nothing about chickens when we got started.  We rescued 4 chicks from being eaten by lizards at a reptile show last spring.  We raised them from hatchlings.  We cared for them in the house.  The boys (just Evan and Sam at the time) helped with all the chicken care.  Then, we got Rosie, a full grown Rhode Island Red hen.  We absolutely adored her.  She took care of the chicks when we put them outside.  We were novice, inexperienced "micro-farmers" and had no idea what we are doing.  We put them in an insecure structure, and two of our precious chicks were eaten by raccoons who got into the pen.

Rosie and the other 2 chicks did very well for several weeks.  Rosie as laying 1 - 2 beautiful brown eggs a day.  She was so tame and a wonderful pet.  Then, Strauss (RIP), our lab mix, got into the pen and killed Rosie.  Tipper, our other lab mix, got one of the chicks who ran away.  

All we had left was Foghorn Leghorn, who we affectionately named at the time.  We got 2 more adult chickens, Rosie 2 and Sally, and had them for several more weeks.  Our last original chicken, Foghorn, was killed by a raccoon another night.  Finally we figured out how to secure the chicken pen and eventually traded Rosie and Sally for the flock we have now.  

We have 8 chickens, 3 Buff Orpingtons, 2 bantam ornamental mixed chickens, 1 buff orpington mixed chicken, and 2 Aracaunas.  So, we have 4 brown egg layers and 4 green egg layers, YES, I SAID GREEN!  They started laying eggs this week, since we got them as chicks.  Now all of our hard work is finally paying off.  We got 15 eggs in just a few days.  Go Hens!

This is a small intro to our life with chickens.  We really enjoy them, especially now that they are producing!