Chicken Journal

We received our new incubator today. We set it up and put 14 eggs inside. They should hatch in about 21 days. I am hoping some of them will be the offspring of some of the hens we lost this weekend.

We lost our White Rock, Houdini, today. The hawk came back and successfully killed her. It was still eating her when we discovered the attack. This brings our total count down to 11 hens and 3 roosters. We bought new fencing materials to try and set us up better to keep the predators away, including the hawks.

We woke up to a devastating scene this morning. We found 5 dead hens, to include our Buff Orpington, Cream Puff, and our Black Giant, Midnight. Two others are missing. One of the hens was missing its head, and they were all pretty cold and stiff. I believe the coop door closed with them still outside, and a racoon got them.

In addition to the massacre, our White Giant, Snowflake, was attacked by a hawk shortly after the coop door opened this morning. There were piles of her feathers all over the yard mixed with hawk feathers. She is clearly stressed out, as she is very lethargic. She has a few wounds on her backside as well. I brought her in to isolate her with Cherry.

We pulled out our incubator to try and hatch some new chicks, but it is not working. We will have to buy a ne…

Our egg count is now between 14 and 16 a day. Nugget, our Golden Laced Polish, acted a little broody today. We may let her sit on eggs if she becomes broody in the spring.