Sunday 26 April 2009

Celebrations and sorrow

We have now been here for 1 year exactly. When we first took on this house we said we would rent for 6 months and then buy something but we are still here and to be honest it will be some time before we find anything, we are so spoilt here, with wonderful views and 50 acres to wander about in. So that's the celebration.

The sorrow is that after 11 months of having chickens we lost our favorite hen to Mr Fox on Thursday. She was the one with the most spirit who pecked at us when we first got them; the one who started the wellie pecking and the one that M rescued from the hedge just after we first got them and she had got lost down the lane. We thought then that we had lost her to the fox and if M hadn't found her in the hedge that night (and it was getting very dark when he found her) we probably would have done.

We both knew that this is a dangerous time of year, the cubs are young and hungry and hungry foxes will do whatever they can for food, even if that means coming near to the house at 11am in the morning. To be honest we had thought that she wasn't well for a while, we used to get 4 eggs a day but in the last few months have only had 4 once a week, we weren't absolutely sure she was the one not laying but she often had a bit of a stagger and seemed heavy in the undercarriage. We had checked for her being egg bound but never found anything. Last weekend she laid an egg in the grass down the side of the veggie patch (an odd place for a hen to lay an egg as they normally like dark private places). It was unformed and soft and she started to eat it. M saw her do it and said she looked like she was in trouble. On the day she was killed she was down by the big field, where they don't often go and we think she might have been trying to lay again. We think Mr Fox was being opportunist and found her in the grass and killed her. Thankfully the other 3 weren't hurt and thankfully Mr Fox was disturbed so didn't get his dinner. Interestingly, since we lost her we have 100% egg production, so that also strengthens the belief that she was the one not laying.

It is sad and I was to start will less upset than I thought, but the next day I felt dreadful about it. The other hens are now closely watched and locked up most of the day which they hate, but they are only chickens (I am afraid to say). We also don't really have enough room for a proper run, so things are a bit temporary at the moment. It has been a big lesson for us not to be complacent about Mr Fox, and also that we need to harden ourselves a bit if we are going to continue to keep livestock (which chickens are really, not pets). One day we hope to keep pigs, what on earth will I be like when they have to go to the abattoir if I get upset over one hen!

With these lessons learnt, hopefully we can do our best to keep the others safe, but Mr Fox knows they are here now so we must not get lulled into a false sense of security, but we also must accept that if we want our hens to be as free range as we would like then we are going to run the risk of loosing one or two now and then. I know many people who keep hens who loose the odd one or two and it is a fact of life.

Now we must look forward to our next year here in our old farmhouse and maybe we will find our own place in the not too distant future.

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