A mink and a mending knee

Little Roo showing off for Happy and Hoppy, two sisters who are inseparable. Hoppy bounces along rather than walking like a normal Happy chicken.

Little Roo in front looking a whole lot like his papa, Big Roo.

I was all set to write a post called RIP Big Roo. Yesterday we had something attack one of our hens (2 piles of black feathers in the driveway) and a dead rooster with his own pile of feathers, on the other edge of the property. This morning when I went out to check on the poor bloody hen, there was Big Roo in the coop with her and several other hens hiding out on an otherwise nice day.

It was poor Little Roo who lost his life. I am sure he came running to protect his ladies as he does that every time I walk the dogs anywhere near any of the chickens. He will come half flying, half running from wherever he is to move them out of danger.

He was the first rooster here to ever have a real cock-a-doodle-do as his call. Big Roo only gets as far as the doodle. Rest in peace, little guy.

Some questioning of neighbors moving into the house at the end of our driveway point to a mink as the culprit. They saw one in the driveway a couple days ago, and when I mentioned that to the Hub, he thinks he saw it recently as well. I will try to live trap and move it to a new home, but hear they are not so easy to catch, and not a pleasant job if you do succeed.

Not looking forward to it.

I think he moved in when I stopped walking the dogs. When I injured my knee almost 3 weeks ago, I stopped walking them out there around the yard. I think it really helps to keep the predators from getting too close to my free-ranging chickens. A danger to let them roam like that, but I still prefer that to keeping them penned in.

The knee is on the mend. Saw the ortho doc yesterday and we are coming up with a plan of action, but for now it is just brace and RICE: Rest Ice Compress Elevate. But I might have to ignore the plan and get back to walking the guard pooches. I think I can be careful enough...