Chicken Hunter on the Loose

This is FROGGER, notice the smooshed yellow frog.

This morning when we awoke, there were buzzards flying over head.  They are often up with the sun finding the remnants of last night's failed Frogger attempts.  This morning one of the remnants happened to be in my yard.  Thadd called me over to inspect the vulture covered carcass and sadly, it belonged to one of my hens.  I figured it was the hen who seemed lethargic and droopy-tailed last night.  I walked over to the coop and found my droopy tailed chicken in her same spot from last night, still droopy.  I didn't have time to figure out which chicken was being pulled apart by the vultures as I was on my way to the Alamo Area Beekeeper's Association's(AABA) Field Day.

All day, while at the beautiful Majestic Ranch on 46 at Field Day, I couldn't shake the image of my chicken being torn apart.  I wanted to intervene, but this was their food and they didn't kill her.  I enjoyed the rest of the day listening to various speakers on various bee topics.  I even scored a free tomato plant!  Chloe waited as they called the names of the scholarship recipients and her name was not called.  She put her head in her hands about to shed a tear when I told her, "Wait until the end and I will ask if they received your application."  She was unable to concentrate for the remaining twenty minutes while I was trying to figure out what happened to her application.  At the end of the day, I asked one of the AABA Board members about the scholarship.  He told me it must have been an over sight and asked me to contact the man in charge of the scholarship program for more information.  Chloe was happy enough to know she was forgotten and not refused.  We helped with clean up which always means you get to take food home.  Chloe selected the brownie bites, the powdered sugar donuts, the cake and the cookies to bring home.  I had a stomach ache just from thinking about consuming these treats.

Once home we checked on all the babies and my husband.  I asked Brett, "Where is Daddy?  Did he work hard in the yard today?"  Brett looks at me and replied, "Nah, he didn't do much."  Knowing full well Thadd cut four large cedar trees and hauled them to stacks was plenty of work for one day.  One day I will have Brett do the same work and ask him if it was hard work.  I expect he will moan and complain and be very sore the next day.

Down at the barn I found Belle's milk sack to be incredibly uneven one side was very hard and swollen.  I hitched Belle to the leash, milking the engorged side to alleviate some pressure.  She fought with me by throwing herself on the floor, covering her teats.  Eventually I just flipped her over, sat on top of her and milked her upside down.  I'm not going to lie, it was hard and I got sprayed in the face with milk a couple of times.  After the whole ordeal was over, I had milk spilled all over the floor and my white shirt and khaki shorts were nearly the same color brown as the dirt.  I was sticky from the sweet goat's milk all over my arms and face, but I managed to save about 4 ounces that I fed to the dog.    On my way to the house to cook dinner I stopped at the coop to check on my droopy-tail chicken.  She was still looking droopy so I prepared a warm water soak and massaged her vent and egg laying belly parts to see if I could help her drop what ever was making her uncomfortable.  There was some movement, so I returned her to the warm soak and then used the blow dryer to dry her feathers and walked her to the coop to relax.  Luckily, Thadd cooked dinner since I was a dirty mess.

At dusk, I returned to the chicken coop and found some red feathers.  I believe I found the place where my chicken was caught, taken and killed last night.  I followed a feather trail leading me to where she was found by buzzards this morning.  The journey trekked over two acres, but it was obvious she struggled.  Last night we arrived after dusk from dinner, which means she was likely taken right before I arrived to close the coop and collect the eggs.  The raccoon who is picking on my chickens will soon join my other chickens in the Big Farm in the Sky.

Tomorrow is a big day!  Thadd promised WE would take the kids to Fiesta Texas.  I don' think I can talk my way out of this adventure, but I sense some roller coaster illness in my future.  I am so very thankful for a day full of fun (Day 109).  Goodnight Friends.