Its been a busy time since my last post on this here blog. We got the burned out sheds pulled down, obtained some enormous pallets and built our girls an extension to the run. It took about a fortnight to get it done.
Really high walls, figured it would keep our girls safe. Not so. An orange menace managed to get over and help him/herself to a tasty meal of four of my chooks. I had two survivors who did not get touched at all because they had managed to get themselves into a part of the run foxy could not reach and another two who were in deep shock and I did not expect them to survive.
I took my poorly two home and tucked them up in warm boxes in the downstairs loo. For a day or two I had to syringe water down their throats to keep them hydrated (when they survived first 48 hrs I got hopeful)
Meanwhile down at the run, Steve and I roofed the run with chicken wire, closed and wired up all gaps and really thought we had cracked it. Fox came back and took another one. A clean kill, no body and no mess.
My poorlies stayed at home with me for a week being hand fed marmite sandwiches and generally cossetted. When they could stand and walk and eat mash ok, I took them back to the run and put them in the house.
Went back down at dusk looked in the run, no chooks, looked in the house, no chooks. Went home in a bit of a state told Steve what had happened. Convinced it was theft. He went down there armed with a big stick, took another look in the house and found my two girls, they had snuggled right up in the corner and I just missed them in the dark.
Did some more wiring up of the run, even the tiniest of gaps were not left undone.
No sign of foxy for a week or so. On 25th Jul, decided to treat myself to a new hen, went up the road and bought a beautiful Lavender Araucana. Let her settle in for a week or so, then got some new bantams. Two days later. Sunday just gone, fox came back and took all four of the new girls.
Thats it now. I'm going to sort out some electric fencing and get myself a gun. My two girls have now started laying and they are under house arrest in the new house until I have completely proofed the run. The house is a 7 x7 shed, so they have plenty of room and it's ventilated so they don't get hot. No new hens for a while, not till I'm sure I can keep them safe.
Will post pics when I can upload them
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