Granted six laying hens, a feisty rooster and four ducks is not a large flock by any stretch of the imagination, but they were our pets more than anything else and it hurt to lose them in such a manner. As any chicken "person" will tell you, chickens have definite personalities and are about the easiest animal to raise as pets, along with the bonus of fresh eggs every day.
Rocky, our rooster, was incredible as roosters go. He was friendly, and never ruffled a feather around
We shall miss you Rocky.
I never thought I would be a chicken farmer, or any sort of farmer, but that is what I have become, albeit a very small scale farmer, yet a farmer non-the-less. So when my flock was savagely attacked and ravaged by a pack of large dogs it was devastating. The entire flock, or at least the members of the flock that we had relocated to our new farm, consisting of six laying hens, one rooster, and three of our four ducks were wiped out in minutes by three large stray dogs, one of which was a golden lab. The other two canine were just as large and savage.
It is difficult to not feel guilty that they were there, alone and undefended, because we couldn't be there to protect them. The broken leg I received three weeks ago has me laid up at least to the end of January, and until I can walk again I cannot live in the motor-home, which means we must live off-farm for the time being. Breaking a leg was not in my plans, but I still feel guilty for not being there.
The dogs broke through the fence of the chicken run and somehow even managed to follow the flock into the coop through their small doorway thus trapping the helpless fowl inside.
In our naivety we foolishly believed the same type of chicken run which had worked so well for us in CT would just as well here in this very rural and sparsely populated area of Virginia.
It didn't. Those dogs tore down through that 2"x3" wire fencing as though it had been woven of string, which may have been more useful at trapping the dogs.
Now we have learned and begin our next lesson on protecting the flock before we bring the remaining dozen or so hens to the farm next week.
The new run will do away with those steel posts and a sturdier framework constructed of pressure treated 2"x4"s will be built. The fencing will be stretched tightly across the frame and the bottom of the framework will rest on pressure treated 4"x4" landscape beams set a few inches into the ground with a skirting of hardware cloth along the perimeter and set a few inches below ground and away from the fence about 12" to deter digging.
A second fence will be erected about 3' from the first fence and encircled the entire chicken areas. It will also be electrified. I dare any predator from attempting a repeat performance on the new flock.
We will also be adding electric fencing around the goat paddock. Both on the current fencing and again a few feet outside the paddock's perimeter.
Overkill? Perhaps. But we will sleep better knowing our livestock is safe.
(This post was written a week ago while I was still without internet access.)
