Something has killed three of our pullets in the last two days.

In the little coop. At night.

And we just got done catching it.

Which was quite a surprising thing, really. I mean, we sure are getting pretty tough around here. Middle of the night, with a stick, a fishing net and a dog cage, we managed to trap a big old possum!!! Even Jessy was in there with the freaked out chickens, wielding the flashlight as Maggie and I cornered and got the net over the bad bad bad marsupial.

Of course, Jessy was the first to hear the distress of the chickens in the middle of the night. We were playing around with the new vinyl cutter for Maggie’s sign shop and all the sudden, Jessy knew something was not right in the back. So we got the herding stick, a flashlight and a dog. Sure enough, there was something in the lil’ coop. Maggie got a flashlight view and said it was a coon. We tried to get Ratchet to go in there but he was scared. (big sissy) Finally, he went in with Maggie for moral support. We found one of our little sweet barred rock pullets dead.

I called for Jessy to go and get the dog cage that J & J had left. Maggie and I kept a watch on the little devil, whom had squeezed his way back behind the apple crate nest box. When she had the crate, we got our chicken catching net and the herding stick and slowly positioned everything to basically net him and drop him into the cage.

Easier said then done, especially with three city chicks that are really ticked off at this murdering varmint. Even Jessy, who would normally not be caught DEAD in the coop, was in there wielding the flashlight amidst the flapping and scared chickens! I was so proud of both my girls… they were handling this calmly and carefully. We really only had a few tense moments and only a few choice words!

Once the killer was caught, we gathered up the poor dead girl and then herded the scared chickens back into the coop and locked it up good. We brought the possum up to the house and left him in the courtyard. I’m not quite sure of his fate. I know that taking him on a ride is a bad thing. Releasing him somewhere else just makes a problem for someone else. Not sure if it’s a girl or boy… if it’s a she, there is probably a nest around somewhere with youngings. Can’t say that I wish it dead, but I really don’t want to loose any more babies! It’s our own fault. That’s the sad thing. Another tough learning lesson. We gave them access to the little green area, but should have been locking it up tight at night. This is the first time we’ve had any trouble with predators since a LONG time ago, back when the hawk killed three of our little turkey poults!!!! A year ago.

Still, that doesn’t make it any easier and it makes it hard to take. It was too dark to find everyone, some were scattered about and had gotten out into the yard. I’m sure they took to the trees and hid, as this nasty beast was picking them off the roost inside. So ticked at this thing. And mad that we let this happen. Another hard lesson learned.

Well, out here, we don’t have an animal control officer. I know. We called once about some squirrels in our porch roof! When I called the county to find out what to do, the lady on the other end of the line was pretty amused. We could call a private varmint company but they wanted $300 to come out. I rather think that is not happening.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be giving Jr. a call in the morning. He’ll know what to do.

And I’m pretty sure we’ll be doing some serious modifications to our coop in the morning and rounding up some little pullets. Thank goodness Pierre was okay. He is my favorite favorite lil’ coop resident.. he’s my rooster baby! He loves to be held and carried around… he’s such a sweetie! We couldn’t find him at first and I was scared he was a goner, but then Maggie found him hiding with some hens and he came to her! I got to cuddle and hold him for a bit and he was talking up a storm. I’m pretty sure he was telling me all about the dreadful event. Poor baby!

Life in the country is not easy and can be pretty hard sometimes!!!!