Sadly we lost another hen yesterday. We started out with 6 fluffy chicks in January that grew to 6 healthy young hens. As early as June, we were receiving 5 - 6 large, brown eggs filled with orange golden yolks. The first loss occurred in August. while we were away. Roy, our neighbor, was looking after the hens. One morning, he opened the chicken coop door to find 5 excited hens, no eggs and 1 flat out dead hen. Later, he found a very long, fat snake napping by our garage. He suspected that the snake entered through a narrow hole in the door, killed the hen then realizing if it eats the big fat hen, it won't get back out the hole. So satisfied itself with eating all the eggs.
From a very early age, we let the hens roam free. Keeping them in the coop until after noon, they are liberated to range around the property until dusk. As the sky darkens, they move closer to the coop and eventually enter it and huddle in a corner. We've been lucky for a couple of evenings when we went out before dusk and returned late in the evening, we forgot to close the coop door. All was well in the morning. When they were younger, they preferred to stay close to the house, scratching in the pebbles on the driveway or the dirt near their coop, taking dust baths under the terrace. Hens are particularly wary of raptors. Their instinct is to stay camouflaged under bushes and long grass.
As they grew older and stronger, they expanded their territory. Often following M around the property. His activities of digging and planting always provided fresh smorgasbords of bugs. They particularly enjoy the days when the green waste is buried. M will take the bucket around to different trees on the property to bury the green waste at the base. If the bucket is unattended, there is a heated competition for the spoils of papaya skins, banana peels, pineapple casing with Salty usually losing out.
I believe it is the hen's confidence in roaming that led to yesterday's loss. Mid-afternoon, I was inside when I heard a commotion and a hen calling and clucking. Walking out on the upstairs deck, I saw a rattled-looking hen weaving up from the edge of the jungle forest on the east side of the property. I walked down to the area where she had been to look for any evidence of disturbance. With nothing evident, we did a head count but could only account for 4. With nightfall we hoped that the errant one would emerge from some hiding place, however, only 4 hens returned to the coop.
Our neighbor Lilo says that it was probably a coyote. It is the law of the jungle. Friends recommended to get 6 chicks because attrition is a factor here. Our cooing, clucking flock is diminished though I'm grateful for their presence and daily gifts.
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