Oh my gosh, Pecky look at her cluck. Raising chickens has been far from easy. We are almost three months in and have lost 11 chicks total, leaving us with 15 remaining. Eventually, we will get eggs out of them, if I can keep them alive long enough.
A snake was the first predator that wiped out seven within the first two weeks. We killed it and kept our flock safe until they were big enough for the coop. (There's a Snake in My Coop)
They all seemed to do well in the wide outdoors, and nothing ate them, at least for the first month. Now, something else, something bigger has taken out four more in the last three weeks.
I love taking care of these birds, but I feel like I am utterly failing them. My job is to keep them safe and nurture them to maturity. How can I do that if I cannot keep the predators away?
They are silly and fun to watch. They are full of personality and even individuality. However, they are also troublesome and kind of dumb.
Though they have witnessed their fellow chickens being atracked and killed, they continue to put themselves in danger. Placing themselves right back in the very spot their sisters were snatched. How can I protect them, if they do not even know how to protect themselves? I understand that they will learn eventually.
However, this entire effort is just like raising children, except I cannot use logic and explanations on chickens. They just look at me funny and waddle off into the woods. I swear they are laughing at me when I chase them down and return them to safety. Me chasing chickens is a sight to see for sure. The kind of stuff you see in funny internet videos. (Chicken Chase)
Failure is never easy, but it is exponentially harder when other living creatures' lives depend on your success. It is devastating when something you care for is killed, not only because it is a life lost, but because you worked hard to take care of it only to see it die prematurely.
That said, I cannot give up. I cannot quit. Though I lost 11, I still have 15 that need me to keep them alive. This is why I spent countless hours trying to fortify their home, both when they were just weeks old and now as the begin to mature. There is still a lot of work to do, and I expect to lose more, but I will not stop working and fighting to keep them alive and safe.
You can follow the Chicken Coop forum for daily accounts of the chaos that comes with raising chickens.
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