That time the raccoon ate all of our chickens

Tragically, there is one fat little raccoon living his best life out in my woods. He took out our little flock and we are so sad. Rest In Peace, Waffles, Carol, More Cowbell, and Steve. 

The yard was covered in feathers with chicken guts here and there, but not much was left behind. Only Cowbell and Steve’s feet, and part of Carol remained.  I went out with a shovel to do clean up duty, avd discovered Mother Nature doing the job herself. A 5 foot+ long rat snake slithered by over the piles of feathers with a big bulge in it’s middle. Reese exclaimed, “that’s Carol in its belly!” 

I was ready with a shovel to kill the snake, and then it rattled its tail at me! I freaked out, thinking it might be a black rattle snake (is there even such a thing?!) and watched it slip out into the woods. Later, research taught us it was a rat snake (which “rattles” as a defense tactic when threatened). 

We’ ve set the raccoon traps twice with no luck. 

But I did add locks and caribeners to secure the coop, and off we went to get new birds.  My friend Mary S is selling off all her flocks, so I bought 

2 Olive Eggers -named Pizza and Ranch 

1 Cream Legbar (or possibly a wheaten Marans...we aren’t sure!)-named Ginger

1 Black Americauna-named Raquelle

1 Blue Marans-named Blue

These ladies hatched April 21, so I’m bummed out that it will be yet another 4-6 weeks of waiting before we get eggs. 

Then, the following day, my friend Jessica W offered us 3 of her 3ish week old chicks because she has like 30 birds in her backyard. The kids picked out 

1 Black Australorp-named Bellatrix

1 Buff Orpington-named Sunni  

1 Barred Rock-named Steve ...cuz we’ve gotta have a Steve!  (Barred Rocks are one of my favorite breeds. They’re docile, smart, good egg layers, quiet, and pretty.) 

We skipped the brooder process and decided to just throw all the chicks together outside in the coop. They’re doing great!  These chicks are still a bit too young to free range impunity the yard (especially with our predators at large), and I’m worried they will eat my garden (although this last batch never touched it!).  The kids move them from the coop to a large dog crate on the lawn each morning so they get out to “play” and scratch around, and then they take them back to the coop every evening.  Hopefully after a couple weeks of this, the older birds will know where “home” is and be able to free range safely. It only took the last flock one day in the new coop to learn that was home and they put themselves up to roost each night that followed, but they were a couple weeks older. Hopefully these ladies can figure it out too. 

So because #chickenmath we lost 4 hens and ended up with 8 🤦🏻‍♀️

Let’s hope they’re all female! I’m a bit nervous that the legbar, the Marans and Ranch the Olive Egger could be roosters! Only time will tell! Mary might end up with some birds tossed back over the fence into her flock 😂😂

Our last flock and just barely started looking like hens instead of awkward teen chicks. A 1-2 month setback is a bummer for sure, but it all works out and these girls are going to be SO pretty it will be worth it. 

Grow babies, grow!