Chicken Coop News

Well, Pete was sure missed today and it turned out to be a sad day. We were off to a great start this morning, with Susan Ager, formerly with the Detroit Free Press, and her phtographer husband Larry here to do a story on the Coop for Edible Grand Traverse magazine. We took lots of photo ops out by the coop, with Keith the clear star of the show as he fed the girls and gathered eggs. We let all the girls out to run around the yard, which they immediately did. A few were rounded up to be held for pictures. The rest spread out and engaged in their favorite occupation, digging for food. Jeanne and I had to leave for a meeting, the others hanging around for a while longer then dispersing. We didn't plan to be gone long and didn't think the girls could get into too much trouble. The big door and the pen door were left open for them. When we got home around 2:30 and I went looking for them, I discovered most of them huddled in the corner of the open coop. Five were still out and hiding under the pine trees. Three of these were having a loud conversation about something which attracted my attention to them. I started counting after the five followed me back to the coop and went in without an argument. Should have been 23 and I only counted 19. It's not easy to count chickens so I gave it a few tries. It was clear that the girls were afraid of something and did not want to leave the coop. This suggested a predator attack of some kind. With four missing I could only think fox or coyote. We called Matt and Wendy and began the search party. Jeanne and I thought we heard chicken voices out by the road. When they got here and we fanned out, three chickens emerged from hiding under the pine by the barn. What a relief. They scooted in the coop quickly. Then we found a scattering of feathers from a barred rock and I had only counted three of them so we figured that was the missing one. We kept looking. When I went in the coop a bit later, there were four barred rocks there. A rhode island red was the missing one. I must say we were a bit glad we didn't lose the rock, as they lay those nice huge dark brown eggs. But sadly one of the reds must have been snatched by a hawk. Perhaps the rock almost got it too and fought off the attack. Who can know. This is our first predator loss since we began, though it is the third hawk attempt. It seems strange, with all the coyotes around every night right behind the coop, that it is hawks we have most to worry about. The girls are very subdued right now, with no desire to come out of the coop. They are only coming out into the pen if one of us is there. This is the way they acted after the first hawk attack last summer. They put out 16 eggs today even with the commotion. Now they are 22. We looked for red until dark but don't really expect to see her again. The girls will stay in for a few days.

Peggy, missing Pete