09/30/2026
We had to say goodbye to a large portion of our flock this past Saturday. We often let our flock out to free range on our property because we rarely see predators during the day. They’re always up in their coops by the evening. We rarely see any dogs here because our dogs are so protective of our property. In a rare coincidence of events, our flock was unprotected when a stray dog happened upon our yard. When Matt realized what happened, all the birds were gone. Matt and I assessed which birds had been killed and which were missing. Our teens helped us search for the missing birds, who were located hiding in neighboring fields. (We also happened upon the stray dog who has hopefully been scared away for good.) All in all we lost a dozen chickens, 4 adult ducks, 1 duckling, and a Jake (turkey). We have 2 severely injured ducks we are still doctoring in hopes that they’ll be okay. Of those we lost was our oldest and most beloved chicken, Tori, and the head of our Muscovy flock, Big Papa. We waited to tell the little boys until we had accounted for everyone. They were heartbroken. We are all sad. If you have reason to see my boys this week, heads up that you may get the whole story. 😢 Our egg production will be low for a bit. Definitely still ask me if we have eggs. We might. But, please be patient with us as we assess and start to rebuild.
