I went to get eggs this afternoon, and saw that the girl's yellow treat bucket was overturned. It was up against the side of the coop, covering an enormous hole. My guess? A bear. Something chewed through a one inch thick piece of wood and then peeled back the hardware cloth to get at the bucket. A cat or raccoon would have swarmed right through that hole and eaten all of the chickens. Luckily, when he pulled the squash and other bits out of the treat bin it was left covering the hole, or else the chickens could have just walked right through it. The picture doesn't show the scale very well, but that hole is the size of a basketball.
Sorry girls, no more treats for a while!
4 comments:
OMG Sarah I'm glad the chickens are all ok!! you live in scary big animal territory
well, Andrew told me that a cougar killed a horse in Duvall recently, so I don't have the monopoly on frightening beasts!
wow- I am frankly impressed that a bear would go to town and chew through wood for squash! Maybe I'll mention that to Calliope the next time she rejects squash for dinner
How about a moat around the coop? Remember in old "safari" movies when deep pits with sharpened spears pointing skyward from the bottom were ordered up...and covered with brush and branches...and the terrible lions and tigers and bears always fell in.....??? Think about it! Relieved that the chickens are ok, Costanza
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