Then There Were Six

 Sadly, we had another chicken fatality last week.  Poor Pansy the blue laced Barnevelder succumbed to the fox.  There was some confusion as to who exactly became fox food.  I was concerned it was one of the two left that I had raised this spring.  Luckily, those two survived (which is a minor miracle as those two tend to be the most adventurous of the bunch).
While I'm disappointed I lost Pansy, she was not very friendly and was quite difficult to catch. Not to mention her skittish nature, which is how she earned her name (because she was a pansy not because of anything related to the flower). 
Just means there will be one more chick in the brooder in 2016.

And in other news, I'm slightly closer to being able to share The Big News.  I'm hoping to be able to share with everyone all the new developments by the end of the week- if things go the way I want them to.  I have no patience and keeping this news to myself is killing me!

R.I.P. Chickens

My original 6 chickens 3 years ago

 As if life were stressful enough for me these days,

I lost the last two hens from my original 6 chicks.

And I lost them during my son's family birthday party.

It was definitely a downer.

Seems a fox got my Buff Orpington Bertha down by the barn.

The other 4 older hens scattered toward the house.

Two went to the coop,

Martha Stewart, my Araucana, ran toward the house.

The fox got her next to our deck.

So I'm down 2 layers

until the other pullets get older

(not till August/September time frame)

and I won't have any more green eggs.

Bertha in the Garden

Bertha looking for a treat

Martha Stewart is the chicken on the right

 Now the remaining chickens are locked up.

Penny is still at my house, 

though I'm growing tired of having her there 

in such tight quarters.

I guess there will be more chickens

since we put all that money and time into making the coop bigger.

But honestly, with everything going on, I don't know if I have the heart to bother with more.

Fall Chickens

 The girls were out and about for a bit this evening.

They were thoroughly enjoying the piles of compost 

that were heaped in the garden.
Nothing makes these hens happier than a nicely aged manure.

 They haven't been allowed to roam as often or as long as usual

because my mom saw the big fat fox sitting by the coop.

 I spent the last nice weekend getting the coop ready for winter.

Basically that means a good cleaning and

covering the run in plastic sheeting.

We get a lot of wind on the hill and the plastic gives the girls protection from that.

It also helps keep out moisture.

I leave the door uncovered for ventilation.

When the inside door from the coop to the run is left open during the day, 

there's a nice flow of air through there that is usually enough.

But if more ventilation is needed, 

the plastic allows me to cut holes where needed. 

 We did discover an area where the local fox seems to be digging.

The hens were scratching around on the inside, 

but the area of missing grass outside leads me to believe something is trying to work its way in.

I never did anything about burying wire under ground and up until now, it hasn't been an issue.

So my brother put a stake in the area,

and I found a scrap piece of chicken wire and some large rocks

to completely block it off.

There are some make shift barriers around the perimeter now

that will hopefully keep the hens safe until spring

when I do what I knew I should have done in the first place

and bury some wire to prevent things from digging under the coop.

The Barking Fox

Lying awake last night, I heard the barking of a fox.  It's a distinct sound, similar to a yappy little dog and yet not like a dog.  Sometimes it even sounds like a cat. Have a listen here.

 I worry about those chickens of mine. They're not only my own personal egg factory, they're pets with distinct personalities. They chase the cat, they chase the horses and while they don't chase the dogs, Big Bertha has been known to peck my chocolate lab on the nose from time to time. 

I think Bertha thinks she can take just about anything.