Ode to Fancy

    So this blog is going to be a little different than the others.  This week started off a little rough for the A and B Homestead.  We have a variety of chickens and of course our 3 chocolate turkeys.  Of the variety we had polishes, barred rocks, blue plymouth rock, buff orpingtons, isa browns, and a silkie (named Fancy).  Each one of them have their own personality and attitude.  

    Fancy always stayed away from the chickens.  She seemed more comfortable around the turkeys.  She hated being in the chicken coop and would always find a way to escape.  She was our little Houdini.  Like the turkeys she liked to sleep under the stars.  She was the fighter and survivor of her set of eggs.  Two others hatched but she was the only one that survived.  

    Well at the ripe age of 8 months old was as far as she got.  There had been a lot of land clearing going on around us and every morning we would hear owls hooting everywhere.  Well Sunday morning I went out to feed the livestock and as I got to the chicken run I noticed an unusual amount of feathers everywhere.  When I got in there I noticed that those feathers were Fancy's and it appeared that she was attacked from above.  The worst part of this is that I found pieces of her in the coop and outside of the coop next to a large pine tree.  This confirmed my suspicion it was an owl.  

    Fancy was my wife's favorite chicken.  She would call her Miss Fancy Pants.  She will definitely be missed.  Since that morning we have not lost any other livestock.  I have seen a barred owl flying near the homestead, so I am going to assume that this will is the culprit.  Sometimes life is hard when you have pet livestock, especially when something as gruesome as this happens.  In 20/20 hindsight, I might need to put a mesh netting up to help protect the chickens from these aerial attacks.  However, with that being said Miss Fancy Pants I hope you are strutting your stuff and eating all the grains you can in chicken heaven.