It started on Thursday of this week when I had a fox attack which took my chicken population from a healthy 16 to just 6 in just one fail swoop.
I had fallen asleep on the sofa and forgot to lock away the chickens. I awoke to a load of commotion and found 2x dead adults chicken and a missing broody that had a new batch of 10x under her care. I thought she may have survived as she had done before when had by a dog but sadly she was never seen again. However 1x of her chicks did manage to get away and even more surprisingly was adopted the next day by the surviving matriarch.
Come the next night I am waiting. The garden is baited with one of the dead chicken. From 12 til 4.30am I wait and nothing. The attack the previous night had been at 2.30-3.00. So I go to bed.
I awake the next morning and whilst making a coffee I look in the garden and no chicken. I inspect the site and the metal fishing rod holder i had staked the chicken to the ground with has been bent over, literally kinked in two. So not a crow or a cat. F***
The next night sees me waiting again. Although this time I am knackered and have to give up at 2.30. In the morning I wake again and inspecting the garden I find some feathers that were not there before. I check the chicken and find that the matriarch and the chick are missing. I guess they were so shaken up by the attack in the coup that they risked being outside. They have not been seen all day so I guess he found them.
So I find myself today, everything set up, alarm set for 2am, ready for the graveyard shift but more determined that given the opportunity he will die. I will not sleep until dawn, I hope the moon stays out, this will be my last opportunity for a while........
I had fallen asleep on the sofa and forgot to lock away the chickens. I awoke to a load of commotion and found 2x dead adults chicken and a missing broody that had a new batch of 10x under her care. I thought she may have survived as she had done before when had by a dog but sadly she was never seen again. However 1x of her chicks did manage to get away and even more surprisingly was adopted the next day by the surviving matriarch.
Come the next night I am waiting. The garden is baited with one of the dead chicken. From 12 til 4.30am I wait and nothing. The attack the previous night had been at 2.30-3.00. So I go to bed.
I awake the next morning and whilst making a coffee I look in the garden and no chicken. I inspect the site and the metal fishing rod holder i had staked the chicken to the ground with has been bent over, literally kinked in two. So not a crow or a cat. F***
The next night sees me waiting again. Although this time I am knackered and have to give up at 2.30. In the morning I wake again and inspecting the garden I find some feathers that were not there before. I check the chicken and find that the matriarch and the chick are missing. I guess they were so shaken up by the attack in the coup that they risked being outside. They have not been seen all day so I guess he found them.
So I find myself today, everything set up, alarm set for 2am, ready for the graveyard shift but more determined that given the opportunity he will die. I will not sleep until dawn, I hope the moon stays out, this will be my last opportunity for a while........
