With one foot out the back door, I knew there was trouble. Our rooster Silkie, Duke, was out. He was alone. And far from the coop. At a quick far off glance, I saw that the entire coop door was half open. NOT GOOD. With an "Oh, No.", I left Duke and headed toward the coop. It was empty. Not a single chicken. But enough feathers and tufts of feathers, to leave a tall story of what must of happened there last night.
Thankfully, I found alive chickens around the back of the barn. Hiding and clearly upset. At the looks of the coop, I thought for sure I had lost at least a few chickens. The girls were with Ernie, our alpha rooster. And he was not about to follow me into the coop at that time. So I went back out to see Duke, and see if I could coax him into going back to the coop.
Duke, was also very upset. It brought tears to my eyes, as I began to scan the scene, and realized that Daisy, our sweet Silkie girl was gone. Her feathers where everywhere, and made an obvious trail. Something had clearly gotten her. And then I heard him. For the FIRST time. Clear as day. A long sad, crow from Duke. He hasn't crowed until now. He crowed for a good while. Like a sad love song. Daisy was his lady. Since they both couldn't fly or roost, they would snuggle together at night in the corner. He was her rooster. She was his only concern. And now his life long partner was gone.
After questioning the kids, my heart sunk. Despite making the coop more predator proof than Fort Knox, I hadn't factored in human error. The chickens had gotten out of the coop yesterday, and for whatever fears, the children had purposely decided not to tell me. To my own fault, I hadn't checked in on the chickens that evening because I had been at the church. And, when Hope was finally settled at 10:30pm after a very fussy night, peeking in on the chickens was the last thing I wanted to do. Which means that the chickens probably returned to roost for the night, but they were all sitting ducks for something to waltz in and pick a dinner.
There is good news, and that is, that upon further inspection, Daisy is all we lost. We are very, VERY lucky. But we've learned more than one lesson at the expense of the sweetest chicken in the flock. The only chicken who was to be our pet.
Good bye little white Daisy...Why is it that the prettiest flowers are always the quickest to fade?
4 comments:
So sad! I am in a very emotional mood right now and this is making me down right cry!
Sorry for your loss...
Hilda Rebecca
I'm so sorry to hear about Daisy! She was everyone's favorite, wasn't she? How are the kids taking it?
The kids handled it much better than me. In fact, it barely had an effect on them. I was doom and gloom all morning. Sometimes, The Queen's Grace can be more than a week delayed on her grief, so we may still be waiting for the ball to drop. It was a clean kill in that there was no blood anywhere, and no "leftovers" hanging around other than feathers. So less traumatic on that front.
I think I was the most upset because that was the one chicken the children could all catch and hold easily. Even Faith. Oh well, that strength of ours was her weakness. Poor girl.
So said to hear of Daisy's demise. She was such a pretty chicken and so loved. I know that my little chicken farmers will miss her. I sure hope she is the last to meet the barnyard stalker.
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