Hopefully little hen will be reincarnated as a pumpkin.
We suspect a dog got into our yard sometime on Friday while we were both at work, and knocked off two of our chooks. One was half buried near the apricot tree. The other is missing in action — yet to find a body – alive or dead – after searching the backyard. The damn dog knocked off the two healthiest chooks – the big chook, and the littlest chook that had recovered so well.
The middle chook – the one I named Lavender – is still kicking. I don’t know how she managed to escape the dog but she’s a champ. A very lonely champ, but we’re trying to go out often to say hello.
A bit battered, but still going strong. Lavender enjoys some afternoon sun.
We plan to get a better system going. Although we’d like them to have free range of the entire block, it’s just not safe enough when we aren’t home. We’re going to have to knock together some kind of large chook tractor that they can live in, which we can move around the backyard. A pity, but it’s our safest bet, and a lot easier than constructing a dog & fox proof coop (which we’ll have to dismantle when we move anyway).
So for now poor little Lavender is a bit lonely, but hopefully I’ll be able to con my Dad into going for a trip to the tip & helping me to weld something together, and after that we’ll start looking for some chooks.
I’m keen to get some Australorps this time because we saw some recently and they were so cute and had a great temperament, but we’ll see what finances permit. Maybe I’ll ask Mum for an early Xmas present 😀
R.I.P. chooks, we miss you!
space wildschwein 
Hi Ash, We have Australorps and yes they are very cute. They just do their little clucking around the place. Very placid. My autistic son carries his favourate, Tiny, as she is a bantam as well around all the time. We used to have more but the dogs got ours other six. Damn dogs….. Hope Lavender isn’t too lonely. XOXOX Damaris
Hi Damaris 🙂
Yeah we went to my sister’s wedding recently and it was held in her friends’ garden. At the back of their house they had a chicken coop with Australorps and some fluffy chooks which I think were bantams. The Australorps were really tame and they were so so cute. I love how low to the ground they are; they look kind of like chooks in kids books 🙂
I’m not sure where to get them from in WA but I think I’ll do some phoning around tomorrow to find out.
Glad we aren’t the only ones who have problems with dogs & foxes eating chooks. So sad when it happens, but unfortunately unless they’re caged up it’s pretty much inevitable isn’t it.
Lavender’s still laying, so we’re pretty lucky in that regard. Fingers crossed nothing gets into the yard again in the interum between now and building a whizz bang new coop.
Cheerio! 🙂