Shock Horror and Great Sadness and an Update.

As soon as i open the door to my house maybe i make a noise but my Chickens start to get excited because they always hear me. Never a day goes by that i get out without them hearing me come out. Yesterday evening as usual i went to give them some food  i normally do in the evening as i was told whatever you give them at night adds weight on them. What they get during the day gets burnt of as they run around how true it is i don't know but i feed them at night as well. They had a good amount of cabbage leaves and a tub of boiled rice. Boiled rice is the favourite, whatever i give the they go mad for the boiled rice.

This morning i tried to get out without them hearing me as i do each time i open the door. Today it was boiled Potato and Carrot peelings, but today it was potato peeling from my own potatos so a treet and boiled rice as well.

I managed to get the door open without them hearing me. As i went over to there place they still made no noise and i started to imaging the what may be wrong. As i got close i could see that there was feathers everywhere. Something was wrong, as i looking in i could see No1 the white cockerel and one of the hens lying on the floor dead and in the other half of the chicken house another hen cowering in the corner of the room. Next door was my big black cockerel as well cowering in a corner. One hen is missing presumed dead.

Upon checking around the chicken run i found a place where something had  dug under the fence and got in and killed two and took one hen away. I had prepared my chicken run to be safe and secure and i was happy with what i had done but what do i do now to make there home even more secure? i don't really know what to do now

Today is Friday the 13th i have looked in on my remaining two chicks a hen and No6 a cockerel and i have just found that the last hen has now passed away. No6 is just sitting in the corner maybe in shock i don't know. I am just leaving him alone to see if he gets any better. Should he be no better by tomorrow i will take him to the breeder for advice but if he has to be put down then so be it. I don't want to see him suffer so i may have to let him go.

I have watched River Cottage many times and the one thing i have learnt from watching Hugh is how he likes to make sure that all his live stock have the best life that he can give them. It's after watching these programs that i can say that i gave my chicks the best i could. It's sad that they ended there short life the way they did.