Snakes, raccoons, hawks--three predators that have successfully taken down our poor chickens thus far. Keeping it interesting, aren't they? Never the same thing twice! In fact, the other two culprits have been the heat and genetic defect/water (depending on how you look at it).
A couple of weeks ago, a snake got into our coop at night and consumed Agnes, one of the Welsummer pullets. Michael caught the huge yellow rat snake and then spent the time and effort to reinforce the coop, but we left it open one night since, allowing a raccoon to venture inside. At least, we believe it was a raccoon. Eggs were smashed in the nest, and Bach, one of our two Australorp hens, was killed. I wondered why the raccoon hadn't bothered with the babies, but we hadn't put them away (they still aren't inclined to roost in the coop regularly), so they probably weren't there. They like to pile up next to our back door on a shelf, actually...we collect them and put them away at night.
Anyhow, that was a big blow to poor Rachel, the other Australorp. She's been with Bach since they were hatchlings, and she seems a bit down right now. While I normally cringe at her morning cackles ("Let me outta here!"), I almost missed them this morning. I'm grateful we have the young pullets, whom she scorns and pecks for now--albeit listlessly, at the moment. I'm hoping, though, that they'll be company for her soon, though.
It's a dangerous world... Hard to believe there's such a variety of predators out there--and natural dangers that lead to heat stroke and drowning. However, I can't bear to see the chickens contained as some folks do full-time. They hate it--and I hate seeing it. Of course, the last two predators could probably have been prevented with our simple nighttime enclosure, depending on when the snake entered the coop (entirely possible that was during the day and it was hidden in the straw, I suppose; we once nearly locked up the coop with a raccoon already in there!). Vigilance and heightened nighttime security certainly will help prevent such recurrences, but we clearly can't completely prevent hawk attacks and all such during the day without completely ruining the chickens' quality of life. I adore seeing them running all over the yard--and I do believe that Bach was a relatively happy chicken...
I suppose the number and variety of predators is a good sign regarding our local ecosystem? We've also had to clear an opossum out of the coop in the past! And, you know, the chickens are consuming smaller creatures on a daily basis, too--lots of insects meet their doom via their sharp pecks. It's that whole food chain idea, I suppose--but that's hard to appreciate when you lose your pets.
Hoping that our three young'uns and Rachel stay safe. The Plymouth Rocks are really developing their black-and-white barring pattern, and the Welsummer (my Hermione) is absolutely gorgeous with the patterns in her brown feathers. Rachel is a healthy black hen with a bright red comb. I still love our chickens, and I'm looking forward to all four of them laying eggs at some point early next year, if we can keep them all well!
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