What a waste, what a waste. The girls were up and ready for their breakfast when it struck. I found them and my first instinct was the mess had been caused by a fox, but our neighbour recognised it as the style of a stoat. Apart from the obvious visual evidence - what I was struck by was the smell - a strange sweet and cloying stink that hung over the air and clung to my clothing.
It was awful having to collect up the bodies and clear away the feathers. The other hens were very distressed and refused to eat preferring to hunch up at the far corner. I let them out into the garden and they very quickly disappeared into the meagre winter undergrowth of the garden. They stayed out all morning and I only managed to get them back in by the devious means of a slice of stale bread - how quickly feather-heads forget.
So, poor dear Rosie the Tea-Cosy and Tatty-bird are now no longer.
Rosie
Tatty-bird
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Oh my that is very sad. So sorry to hear that you had to cope with that this morning. Truly an awful experience.
ReplyDeleteIt was a stoat?! Is that why they were not taken then?
ReplyDeleteReally sorry again, how did your boys take it?
xx
oh, poor tatty-bird and rosie. and poor you for finding them like that. thinking of you and sending hugs :)
ReplyDeleteJan - Thank you for your thoughts x
ReplyDeleteMynyddbach - it was a stoat - hence the bodies being left behind but it was the amount of feather everywhere which made me originally think it was a fox, the boys took it better than I thought, we have always made sure they realised the 'cruelty' of nature is only - well natural and in this case the stoat would have only been hungry.
ReplyDeletenarkeymarkey - thank you for the hugs and yes it was hard finding the girls like that.
ReplyDeleteOh dear me, what a horrible thing to happen. Of course it's natural, but just seems worse because they were part of the family.
ReplyDeleteOh no - how sad - sorry for your girls (and boys)
ReplyDeleteSarah
Slightly smaller footprints - it is sad as they were part of the family, I shall have to remember them chasing shadows in the garden during summer time :)
ReplyDeleteSarah - thank you
how sad :(
ReplyDeleteColouritgreen - thankyou x
ReplyDeleteBreaks my heart for all of you. What a sad way to start your day! Hope tomorrow begins brighter. Vicki
ReplyDeleteVicki - thank you for your thoughts x
ReplyDeleteOne day such a happy post and then the next such a sad one. So sorry. Jak :>)xx
ReplyDeleteJak - thank you - but that is life isn't it? You have to take the good with the bad and learn from it, yes is was a sad day but as Youngest told me(when I thought I was comforting him!) - if we hadn't taken on Tatty - she would have died a year ago and Rosie was an old lady and had had a good life - wise words from some one so young.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago a mink killed our cockerel and his 5 ladies; for some reason it ignored the 6 young hens and single cockerel in the other bit of the shed.
ReplyDeleteI still open the hen hut each morning wondering if another mink has got in... so far it has not.
You have my deepest sympathy; I know it is nature but it is still nasty.
Lovely Lady - thank you, you are correct it is nature and it was nasty but it comes with living in the country - we've been extremelylucky to avoid it up until now.
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