Depressing

She fought hard.  Very, very hard.

This morning I found the fortex in the big henyard full of feathers and water.

I had already poured the water out in this picture, but it was full of feathers.  You can see some on the ground, too.

It dropped her here, by the duck house in the middle of the yard.

And again, on the other side, where there was another pile of beautiful feathers.

This was the little girl that was:

And People, I'm mad and I'm not going to take it anymore.  First Eagle, Ameracauna of the beautiful green eggs... then tiny Brownie, smallest of the hens, Old English Gamebird pullet... then Little Red, the red cochin cockerel, then Teeny, mama to the three teeny babies, and now, we suspect, the baby we found dead with the big slash in the side was dropped by that bird.  And now, Baldy, called that because the first night she was in the little henyard side, the three (at the time) Brahma roosters literally bit her bald, and she never grew a comb.  She stayed at the side of Big Boots and Little Boots, who are still safe.  So far. 

I have not seen George, the second partridge cochin rooster, for a few days, so in the morning, I will look specifically for him. 

Not one bird on the big henhouse side has been taken... and except for Eagle, all the birds were small.  As Keith says, of course they were, they are easier to lift.  I suspect maybe May, the second porcelain hen, was lifted off by the hawk and dropped in the yard, where Lilly got her. 

And of course, the hawk has not taken the elderly trio of roosters.

The stupid thing is, I love hawks.  I love to watch them, I JUST DON'T want them EATING MY BIRDS.

We are looking into bird netting, but I think it is so expensive, I might have to come up with something else, though Keith is calculating how we could do it.  We definitely will be netting the new henyard in the spring. 

It wouldn't hurt so badly, but these little birds I took care of especially well this year, and really spent time (and money) making sure they were strong and healty.

I have two Mille Fleur D'uccle pullets left, on the little henhouse side, and two roosters, so the start of a little flock, but it still hurts. 

Drat it!