Chicken Losses

A difficult day.  Those of you that have visited the farm and our chickens may recall my saying that the most feared predator is domestic dogs.  Unfortunately, our worst fears have come true.  During the night, a dog got into the chickens and killed more than 70 birds.  Another eight were so badly injured that we had to put them out of their misery.

We lost 50 of our meat birds and more than 30 of the laying hens.  These birds were mature birds ready to begin laying.   In addition to the financial loss… several thousand dollars… it emotionally trying.  It is difficult to arrive at the farm in the morning and find mangled carcasses scattered through out the field.

Finding an appropriate way to dispose of the carcasses is also an issue.  We can not bury them because our water table is too high.  We are hoping that our garbage service will accept them if we bag them up.

After the catastrophe we spent some time fortifying our electric fence to increase the voltage.  It is now running 7,000 volts and gives a nasty shock, even if you are wearing rubber soled shoes.  We also mowed the fields adjacent to the birds to provide less cover to marauding creatures.  Hopefully, this will prevent future problems.  And… my mind will be much relieved on June 8^th when the remaining meat birds go to the butchers.

Fortunately, we still have enough birds for those that have pre-ordered chicken.  We can even take a few more orders.  But, we will not have as many dozen eggs each week as we had hoped.