Pet Chicken Predators Mistaken - Ooops!

Predators of chickens come in all shapes and sizes, and from different directions. Silly me - last post I said I'd set out my Have a Heart trap, thinking I'd capture a raccoon. Wrong! There were no results at all for the longest time, then one morning I went out and heard . . . guess what! "Meow!"

Yep, one of the neighbors cats, an orange little cutie, I think her name is 'Trixi'. She very gracefully walked away when I opened the trap door. One great reason to use this type of trap! Anyway, guess she wasn't too fazed, she's been coming over almost every day since.

The attack actually came from the sky, an owl, I now believe, as I've seen a couple around from day to day. I need to put a couple of  nite guard lights facing up to discourage owls and other winged predators. They really do work, I can say for sure! When I moved to this wilderness place and told the neighbors I planned to raise chickens, one of them said "Oh, bear food, huh?" That was about five years ago - now all the neighbors are raising chickens!

Everyone is well, even one the hen that was hurt. She's perking up for the New Year. I've had her in her own private little pen for awhile now, and she's eating and drinking almost like normal, just needed a little TLC.

Happy New Year, if you've read this far down! It's going to be a great one, for you, too, I hope!