We have never fully enclosed the chicken yard and as the chickens have gotten bigger they are able to either fly out of the yard or climb the chicken wire. They love roaming around the house looking for food. I guess you could say they are "free range" chickens. They stick together and never venture too far from their coop. If one gets distracted and separated from the group it will chirp and chirp until it is reunited with the group.
The past couple of times that we have been out at the house a strange dog has come onto our property. We have been worried that it might hurt the chickens so we were always quick to shoo it away. Looking back we should have been more careful.....
We don't know for sure that it was this particular dog, but now I wonder at what point we talk to the neighbors about their wayward dog. I realize that we live in the country, but it's not okay that my neighbors dog visits whenever it likes.
Yesterday the boys went out to clean up trash around the yard so that there would be a full dumpster when the trash men arrived today. What they found was a sad thing for all of us. Ann, my chicken, was found on the side of the house mangled by some predator. All of us were very sad. We have all grown to love the chickens and their funny personalities. The only positive is that it was my chicken and not one of the kids.
Number one on the to-do list.....finish the predator-proof chicken yard.
PS I asked the boys if they buried Ann - you know give her the respect and proper burial she deserved. They both looked sheepishly at me and said, "yes, yes, that is what we did." I could tell they were fibbing, so I pressed them. They admitted that she was tossed in the dumpster. Ouch, my heart is breaking.
