Chick Update

Emma and her 9 chicks

Roscoe and Rosa

In the spring my granddaughters and I purchased 4 little chicks from an elderly gentleman, and brought them home. One of the smaller chicks died after a few days but that left us with 3. After raising them to an age where they could go into their pen, two of the chicks mysteriously disappeared a few weeks apart leaving Rosa, our only hen. I knew she was lonely, so I obtained some free grown chickens, thinking maybe they could be some protection from whatever was getting the chicks. We think they were being snatched from their roost in the trees from a racoon. No, one by one, those were taken. 3 more chickens in all. We didn't even hear a cackle at night, and found no signs of the chick snatcher until one day when the huge black and white hen was gone. I found her carcass up in the pen with nothing left inside. All that was now left was Rosa (boy did she have some luck!), and a little banty rooster Roscoe,who had lost his mate to the perpetrator. I had let them out of the pen to roam our yard thinking that maybe they had a better chance to "getaway". One morning, my husband informed me he had heard a terrible commotion about 3 a.m. and had gotten up to try to see what was getting the chickens. He couldn't see, but heard Rosa's last cackle down near our small barn. We went out on the deck that morning to look around and low and behold who do you think came running up from the barn? ROSA! That chicken must have 9 lives.

But wait. The good news? One of the hens we thought was gone, had not seen for weeks, was seen coming out from under our ornamental grass one morning with 9 baby chicks! We now have 12 chicks and Roscoe thinks he is the proud papa.