In Sue’s Christmas letter, you may have read that we still had not lost any of the birds to predation… we’ve been here for 3 years now and that is a really long time with no deaths from hawks, owls, coyotes or other predators. Well, yesterday we had our first. Sue interrupted a hawk that had just dispatched Wheezy. Poor Wheezy. Sue feels bad, but all the other chickens were hiding, Wheezy just never liked going into the tractor. First chicken in three years. That’s pretty amazing.

It’s always a sad day when we loose chickens, and this week we’ve lost 3. Two to the crud, and one to a hawk. I’m glad that Sue was able to chase off the hawk, even though Wheezy was already gone; by having him go off, he wouldn’t get the taste of the meal and remember that it was easy pickin’s. Hopefully, the chickens will remain vigilant and the hawks will not be as bold. We’ll never really be safe from all threats from the air, although we really try to keep an eye on things, we cannot be ever present. When the dogs are out, both Bob and Sweet Pea keep an eye on the sky and bark at anything large flying over. They help out a whole lot; but again, they cannot be always present.

We shall continue to do our best and always share the good and bad with you here. We have some ideas for Saturday, Depending on the weather, we’ll see how we do and let you know. Until then, as always~
Thanks for reading.

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Today’s Weather: Rainy and Windy. Somewhat cold, but certainly not frigid. We were at 61° when we went out to do the chores this afternoon. Currently, at 7:27 p.m., it is 51°. We have had some good rain this day, and are expecting more this evening… it has been heralded by high winds of the afternoon.  Tomorrow looks to be fair. Overnight low will only be down to 35°. Sunrise today was at 7:18 and sunset at 5:40.

Egg Report: Yesterday we had a larger number of eggs than we’ve had in a long time: 23 chicken eggs, 3 ducks. Today, Thursday, we only had 10 again. But at least they are beginning to lay on the nicer days.