I'm rather disheartened to write this post. As you might imagine from the title, last night I experienced a fox attack - my first.
Over the past 18 months, I've lost a couple of hens to foxes by sheer accident. I live in an urban environment and there are A LOT of foxes around. Most nights there's one in the garden; I can normally tell by the smell it leaves, but sometimes it trips the security light too. I've miscounted hens when I've shut them away and found nothing but a small patch of feathers in the morning.
I have nothing against foxes. They're beautiful animals and they hunt chickens and other birds because that's their instinct. Last night, they hunted my Ixworth flock.
Sadly, they got all four birds - one cockerel (Eddie) and his three ladies. I'm particularly gutted because these birds were a rare heritage breed that I was establishing a show-stock flock of. It was a flock I intended to take to the farm with me - a local Suffolk bred chicken variety that would have been a perfect addition to the small farm. I began the year with one hen and then swapped a cockerel for Eddie - sadly that friend also had her flock decimated by a fox this year. I then hatched a number of chicks - some for sale, some the freezer and two hens which I kept to double the flock number.
I'm pretty gutted by what's happened. I can't blame the fox; I blame myself for not making sure their coop was secure enough, for not locking them up early and for not popping Eddie into his sleep box earlier...at least I might have been able to save him. He was my favourite cockerel by far. On a purely business level, it's also a knock because Ixworth hatching eggs, chicks and pullets SELL. And pretty well. One of the reasons I'd boosted my hens was so I could sell even more eggs in 2018.
I explain a little more in this video I made just after the discovery.
What Next?
Luckily, though Ethel wasn't laying, the two younger hens were. I've raided eggs due for customers and managed to salvage 10 eggs. They have been wiped down so there's a risk some of that important bloom has been removed. But they still might make it. So there are now 10 Ixworth eggs in the incubator. I'll find out in a few days whether they're fertile and then we'll be set for a January 1st hatch.
Fingers crossed some good comes out of this!
Thanks for reading,
Geoff
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