Chicken Catastrophe

It appears our chicken farming days may quickly be coming to an end. We had quite the chicken catastrophe this last weekend.

In case you had lost count, between getting our first hatched eggs from my son's science class two years ago and the chicks we purchased last spring minus the roosters and the few others that met early deaths due to different tragedies, we were at a count of 8 laying hens.

This last weekend drastically changed that. We went out Saturday morning to do the chores and that is when we made the discovery. Instead of laying hens greeting us, we were greeted by various piles of feathers.

Out of 8 hens, we have only 2 (very scared ones) left. Apparently coyote's, foxes or some other animal large enough to drag bodies of 6 chickens leaving only feather's behind got into the coop. We also thought possibly raccoons, but whatever it was had to be strong enough to get over the outside fencing with the chickens. It also appears it was more than one to clear six of them in one sitting.

Right now we don't have the money, time or energy to invest in starting over with new chicks. Plus, we're quite sure the animals that found the six now know where the coop is and will return. We have reinforced the coop as best as we can but getting new chicks just doesn't seem to be an option for now.

Due to our weekend chicken catastrophe, our chicken farming has now been reduced to the care of 2 hens. It appears I will need to start buying eggs again...