The Rest of the Story

When I left you all last night, Lilly Ann was in the henyards on patrol.  Imagine my shock when I went out there ten minutes later .... and she was gone. 

If you squint, you can see where she pushed out the wire on the gate... fat lot of good it did me to staple a piece on the other day.  

Keith has now strengthened both gates. 

Here he is this morning, hanging the new gate before going to work. 

And, as you see, there is now a barrier at the foot of each gate, and this one has wire hanging down in the opening under it.  

While Keith worked, I let Lil out in the pasture for a while, and she spent some time sniffing at the coyote scent. 

I was VERY afraid when I went out there last night. 

Here's Lil going past the camera at 5:57 PM. 

A raccoon at 6:43...

And here's trouble at 10:43.  

I had brought Lilly in as soon as I went out there and found her loose. 

There were two coyotes that visited in the middle of the night, and believe me, I would never risk Lilly with any of them. 

I have the camera out there tonight, because I want to see if anyone gets past this: 

I suspect the skunk and raccoon can find a way in, but it will be interesting to see if it stops the bigger predators for a few nights. 

I did get SOME work done today... I have one garden bed just about ready for planting.  Another load of dirt and manure went on top of this.  I need to get some more, maybe tomorrow.  We are planning on going to the Metropolitan Lawn and Garden Show this weekend... just for kicks, as it is a tenth of what it used to be in the "old days", but we do like to go and look around. 

That's it for the day from Calamity Acres! 

Short Post

This morning I left for an hour to do some errands, and when I came back, someone was knocking at the gate of the big henyard from the pasture side.  I ran in to get my camera and Lilly Ann... and when we got back out there... the "someone" was ducking right through a tear in the gate on the OPPOSITE side of the henyard, and running in amongst the birds.  Luckily, I was right on it's tail... and it ducked into the 4 x 4 pen that we kept juveniles in, and that the birds use for shade (when the tarp is in one piece). ....

Uh huh. 

Mr. Bandit looks pretty scared, doesn't he.  I slammed the gate shut, and ran to close the pophole of the big henhouse... and left the five little roosters out for a minute... brought Lilly in and let her sniff around the pen so that the raccoon had a good look at her.... then took her out... ran the roosters back on the little henhouse side and shut the gate in between them... ran back in to call Keith... and then looked out the window and saw Lil sitting at the gate, staring... and ran back out to find the coon already gone, out the torn top, and back through the gate it had just come through.

Oh, well. 

We would have tried to live-trap it to take it out to Leavenworth County Lake... because frankly, it will keep coming back.  Barring that, it would have to be euthanized.  

We know the animals are very cold and hungry right now, but I don't need to walk into the henhouse some afternoon when home alone, and find it in there eating my birds, or worse, beheading them.  Abby definitely is staying out of the pasture at this point... and after I was sure it was gone, I took both Abs and Lilly into the henyards, and my gosh, they quartered them, noses to the ground, even Abby.  We just don't want her to mess with one. 

That's two predators out in the open in daylight hours this week. 

Reaping What I've Sown

For all of you out there who have been saying under their breaths:  "She's going to regret this".... you can all now say "I told you so". 

This morning, Keith did chores again for me, as I am still under the weather.  He did bring me the game cam, and I popped the card into the computer.  I was dismayed to see this: 

Please look at the time.  Yes, it's 7:01 AM, just before it gets really light. 

And that's a big coyote. 

I called Keith to the computer when he came in, to show him that they are really coming close now, and frequently, and that maybe I should stop feeding immediately. 

Too late. 

9:15 AM

Trust me, this is only an "enth" of the feathers, they were everywhere.  

Keith was working clear across the yard on the henspa, and even though he is deaf from artillery, became aware that the birds were screaming in terror. 

He ran in to get his gun... and I stupidly ran out the door and saw a big coyote with a black hen in it's mouth. I yelled at it, and it ran off exactly to the place where there is a passage under the fence, that I showed you last night. 

Keith was furious, because he had intended to kill it.  

I went out there and found at least six places where birds had been attacked, so we think there were possibly two coyotes.  I saw a black bird being carried off, and Keith saw a brown bird. 

They got Legs Diamond, our beautiful young rooster.  Keith euthanized him. 

Of course, barring the door after the cows got out, I have been taking layers over to the henspa, which could accomodate about six more.  I moved four bigger hens, and one tiny little Old English gamebird, Susie, because she is one of my favorites. 

I'll move two more tonight, once all the drama in there has settled down. 

The moral of the story is, all feeding stops today.  Keith is throwing Legs over into the wild area tonight... and I'm going to block the access hole with cinderblocks.  As Keith says, "They'll only find another way in..." because they are opportunistic, and it's mid-winter.  (Jill, my friend the naturalist, and I are both pretty philosophical) 

The birds are securely locked at night and repairs to the henyard fence were on the slate, anyway. 

I'm actually more worried about the skunk than anything.... as was Jill, too. 

In happier news, Keith has been working all weekend on this, and it's looking very good: 

Lag bolts holding the railing tightly to the deck: 

He will go around and screw the bottoms of all the spacers when he is finished.  I appreciate this so much, because sometimes I would get disoriented going across the deck, it was up just high enough to worry me since my eyesight is so bad.  I was very worried about Abby walking off it and hurting herself, too.  There will be handrails on either side of the steps now with the finish of this project today, and the railings are so strong and tight, we're going to hang a planting box from them. 

I'm going to make cookies this afternoon for a meeting Keith has tomorrow, so had best get busy.  

It stuns me that even at 62, I'm still learning the hard way!  

The Rest of the Story

First off, I want to thank everyone for their comments last night.  I admit I was pretty torn up about it.  Annabelle had turned into the most spectacular hen, with gorgeous shining plumage.  She was also very gentle, and since she was attacked in the barn on her nest one night, rarely left the henyard, where she felt safe.  We noticed in the last two weeks that she was trying to fly up to the top of the little henhouse with Jackson every night... she would try, but she was so heavy she could not get going enough, and couldn't figure out how he did it... walk up the ramp precariously... go to the top of the rabbit hutch, then up to the top of the henhouse. 

 

So she kept roosting on the doghouse, where she and Clarabelle had slept for so long. 

This is her last picture alive, I took it Thursday night as I was locking up.  It was very humid out, and she was breathing through her mouth... she had tried to figure out how to get up (you can just see Jackson's feet on the end of the henhouse in the background) and finally gave up and came up on the doghouse. 

 

I was talking to her as I went out, and always gave her a scratch on her breast. 

 

About 3 or 4 months ago, Keith and I realized that, instead of putting dead birds out in the trash, which we had done for a while, we would just put them at the bottom of the pasture for the wildings.  Any bird who died or had to be put down was put away down there by the "door" where the fox came under the fence.  You might remember that we recorded a fox, a skunk and a possum all around Clara's body when it lay down there through two nights, then disappeared.  Clarabelle weighed much less than Annabelle.

 

We cannot figure out what got Anna.  She was chased around the yard, and up and down the south and west fencelines, with feathers being pulled out of her by the dozens.  She did NOT make it clear around the fence.  We guess Lilly saw or sensed it, because that night she ran up and down the fenceline over there by the pen, but did not bark. (Keith was on the porch).

 

The flimsy gate to the pasture which I bungeed shut at night was as tight as I could make it. The only reason we don't use the gate in the big henyard is the fence has settled and the gate does not open fully.  It will be repaired next year.  We did see that the makeshift gate was pushed OUT about six inches on the north side of it.

Keith has now closed it completly and permanently.  We also had used that "gate" for the birds because Beau, and then the llamas, would come into the yard if the real gate were open to eat all the chicken feed.  Keith also strengthened the wire along the eastern boundary (this side).

So, what got her?  We don't think anything as small as a raccoon or possum, because they could not have chased her as they did.  We don't think it was the fox, because she was so big, and because of the damage done to her body.  

 

Coyote?  They have been up very, very close this week.  Yes, we miss having the llamas here as guardians, and no, we can't handle another big dog... like an LGD... Lilly is far too possessive of her place, and I would not want to have any dog tragedies.   But a coyote going OVER an eight foot high fence?  Unlikely.  Like I said, the flimsy gate was pushed OUT.

So... what got her?

 

We think a cat.  If anyone wants to see the damage done to her... I have a very graphic picture that I can send to you if you will contact me at ksredhead1950@gmail.com, and I would value your opinion as to the wounds.  I took the picture after Keith carried her to the bottom of the pasture... and it shows plainly her wounds and the damage done by claws, we think, to her neck.

 

This morning, being the inquisitive person I am, I walked to the bottom of the pasture in order to see if anything had come in the night to disturb her.  Our Moultrie camera had malfunctioned, and was sent back this week, so I got another less-expensive camera and will set it out there tonight to see what is coming in and out.  But, I digress (as usual). 

 

This is what I found, where the approximately 20 pound Annabelle was laying last night (Keith thinks she weighed much more).

 

That's it.  Zip. Zilch.

 

There was one drag mark of about 18 inches just about a foot to the west of this paltry pile of feathers.

 

No partially eaten carcass, NOTHING.

 

Keith and I both looked.

 

It meant something PICKED THE BIRD UP AND CARRIED IT AWAY.  She was too big to get under the fence, and there would have been feathers there in the fox opening... there were not.

 

We did some reading on www.cougarnet.org.... could this be what did it?

 

Do you remember my writing about two strange sounds I heard in the night a few weeks ago that I ascribed to foxes?

 

There is a confirmed sighting of a cougar in Atchison County, only one county north of us, from last fall, confirmed by Kansas Fish and Wildlife.

 

Tonight the new camera is set up and functioning in the pasture, pointing downhill towards the treeline.

 

It's going to be interesting to see if anything is on it tomorrow, as it has been raining and storming off and on all day.

 

For now, Jackson is sleeping in the big henhouse.  He is not necessarily very happy about it, but goes in without any trouble when we come out to put them up.  When I go outside, he talks to me constantly, and responds when I chirp back to him.  If you have ever had a turkey, you know how personable they can be, and we want now to protect Jackson as best we can. 

 

If I have to, I'll have fencing put up for him, like the new henhouse.

 

But, in the meantime, we shall see.

 

 

 

 

 

At Last We can Rest for a Bit

After two nights of excitement, we expected to go to the Kansas City Ballet tonight.  At least, my friend and I bought tickets 3 weeks ago... and I was anticipating a trip to the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts tonight in downtown KCMO.  Today she came to me and said she couldn't use her ticket, and offered it to me.  Keith and I have been to the ballet several times (I worked for them for years) but we are worn out tonight and though he came home early and did chores, we have decided to stay home this time.   I hate to waste tickets, but they are in her name and I can't call and release them.  I should have told her to do it, so she could take the tax write-off.  Not thinking here at the end of the week.

Things are much calmer here now.  Keith called me as he did chores to tell me that the birds were finally relaxed and calm after two days of terror for them.  I took some pictures as I went out to take their treats, as Keith had already done all the water.

The procelains are safe, and for once, I was glad they were still in their hutch.  Soon they'll move to the new henhouse with the other birds.

Rocky the beautiful Wyandotte Rooster is safe.  He is so tame and comes to greet me daily.  I would have been sorry to lose him.

The Welsummer girls (two of them here) and the Buff Brahma bantam girls are safe

Reddy and Eagle and Butch are safe in their pasture pen.

It will be covered again this weekend.

Tonight, Friday, we skipped the ballet and stayed home, too tired to cope with the crowds.  At 9:30 or so, Lilly became very agitated, and Keith let her into the pasture, where she chased something to the corner.  She came back when called, and the llamas did not come investigate.  That is Lil's first time in the pasture in four years!  We know the llamas know our own dogs but we also know Tony is very territorial, and will protect his "girls", Inca and Aztec. 

Keith did not see anything, and he and Lil are still outside for a while so he can watch her.  She's a great hunter!

Hopefully tomorrow I will get to our "regular programming", not All Chickens All the Time!

Linking to Fresh from the Farm for Farmchick Friday