The slaughter WILL continue

I called DNR and we can legally kill raccoons. Our neighbor can also continue to feed them legally. They have our name down to borrow traps but we are looking at a 14 week wait so we will just have to buy our own.

The slaughter has begun

I hope it's the end! This morning we discovered 10 of our 37 chickens were missing. All that was left was a few feathers on the ground outside of one tractor and the mangled remains of one of the cochins under the apple tree. Wouldn't you know they didn't steal any of the roosters in the less well secure tractor. It looks like the local raccoons can open the sliding locks we have. So now we need something more complicated before nightfall. I am so angry for those poor birds. The raccoons opened the back door and just reached in and grabbed them while sleeping in the nest boxes I assume. I wonder how much raccoon traps cost?

We know we've been discovered

This morning I walked by the kitchen window and noticed chickens flapping around out of the corner of my eye. I looked over to see a hawk sitting on top of one of the chicken tractors. I was on the phone with David at the time. I wish I had taken a picture before opening the door and hollering at it. It had a narrower body than most of the hawks around here and was gray with white strips. Very distinct stripes on the tail from what I recall. I am not having much luck figuring out what kind it was. I only saw it from behind so I have no idea of the belly color. But I have no recollection of seeing any brown on it at all.

I can put my shoe on

Blooms

Here's our handsome rooster!

He is really rather tiny. He should weigh under 2 lbs when he is full grown.

Chicken a la King

Everyone is looking for some tasty bugs in the garden.

This is a pretty little hen. She is a blue Mille Fleur. They are extra tiny even for bantams it seems. They are the smallest of all our chickens. The Porcelain Mille Fleurs we have are the smallest of the Mille Fleurs. She was very curious about the camera.

Here is one of our white Silkies. They are fascinating to look at. If I recall correctly white Silkies are the original color of the Silkies. They are less endearing to me than most of the other hens though. There is something just rather odd about them. David and I read the other night about how Marco Polo shared about Silkie chickens when he came back from his travels but no one believed him. They called his book The Million Lies. Chinese folk medicine says they make an extra nourishing broth. I guess we will find out one day. Their skin and bones are black.


One of our four Buff Orpingtons. I like them a lot. They seemed a rather rough lot when they arrived. Being larger than the others they just kind of step on the other chickens to get past.

This is another Mille Fleur here. You can see her feathering is black rather than the bluish color of the first bird. They take a couple of years to develop their full patterning. I wish I had gotten a picture of one of our Mille Fleur roosters. "Cock of the walk" comes to mind. They are very handsome and prone to strut with their beautiful tails and foot feathers.


Thirty-seven chickens have survived. I am having a hard time imagining getting rid of any of them. We ended up with a lot more hens than roosters even though we ordered straight run. A few roosters will have to go but we will keep a couple. We are talking about just building a large coop and chicken run to hold them and rotating with the chicken tractors. The chicken tractors will be ideal for any setting hens and chicks.