Carnage in the Coop

I arrived home today from work to find one of my chickens dead, another suffering horribly from bite wounds, and another in shock...and the other five very nervous. Before I could figure out what happened, the hen with the obvious bite marks died. I buried the two corpses and as I was trying to get the other hen to be a little more responsive, I heard something in the coop.

I knew the coop should have been empty because all of the birds were accounted for in the pen. I opened the door to find a small dog in the coop. I was tempted for a moment to get my gun...but opted instead for a few hard whacks with a nearby stick that left it running out of the yard. I hope that the dog doesn't return...if it does, then no guarantee about the gun. I really don't like the idea of shooting the dog...but if it is going to be a repeat offender, that is the likely outcome.

The hen shown above from a few years ago was the one who was laying down in shock when I arrived. One of the two birds that were killed was one of these chicks all grown up (another Black Jersey Giant), and the other was a Barred Rock hen.

Not that way that I wanted to start my weekend at all. Granted that I had thought about cutting down on the number of birds that I have, but not in this manner. I hope the other hen recovers....morning will tell.

Sapelo Island pics

14 GWS members took off for 3 nights on Sapelo Island, including me. All went very well with cool, but comfortable weather and only a brief sprinkling of rain. I did pass a kidneystone will there, which definitely was not fun...but I survived. While there, we spread a portion of John Kraus's ashes. Other portions of his ashes will be cast upon the Okefenokee Swamp, Hitchiti Trail, and in Alaska....some of John's favorite places. We passed the time by relaxing around the campfire, hiking, reading, and competitive games of Scrabble. Of course, it was too cold to get in the water, but it was tempting. I can't wait till Gail's trip in May, when I plan on returning to one of my favorite islands to visit. Click on the little images to see it bigger.

Ranting

Cumberland Island Photos

Recently, I spent several nights on Cumberland Island with some friends from GWS over the New Years holiday. We saw a fair bit of wildlife, enjoyed relatively warm weather for the first 4 days and nights, and enjoyed a lot of laughs around the campfire. Click on the images to see a larger version of it.

Then on New Year's Eve, we all went to the beach to have some fun with sparklers and mini-fireworks.