~ A Sad Day on the Homestead ~

This morning , my dogs started barking , I thought they were barking at the cats. After awhile I looked out and saw a couple of strange dogs near the dog lot , I went outside and hollered at them , they headed up the driveway and went on up the road. I thought everything was fine , but when Little Missy and I walked down to the coop later , we discovered the

the dogs had killed Mya. Apparently they weren't hungry , they just killed her and left her lying in the garden. Curious J named her Mya , she was his hen , haven't told him yet . We've had our chickens a little over a year now and this is the first time we've lost one. It's sad but I know it's part of the farming life unfortunately.

We spotted Chief Little Roo and the new girls ( his flock now ) hanging out in the edge of the woods.

After we came back from the chicken coop , we went to check on Ms. Camellia. She had melted quite a bit , lost her eyes , nose and her left arm that held the watering can.

As you can see , Little Missy tries to put Ms. Camellia back together again (LOL).

We found some buttercups blooming among the patches of snow and picked a few for Little Missy's Mom , my oldest daughter's birthday was today.

When I went to close up the hens for the night , I realized I had another hen missing. One of the older black hens is missing too. We didn't find her body or any signs of a struggle , feathers or such. So I'm not sure if the dogs killed her , something else got her or she's hurt and hiding somewhere. The hens will be confined to the fenced area from now on unless I'm outside with them.

Update ~ I found the other hen this morning , she was dead too. I found her on the other side of the house , the only place I didn't look yesterday afternoon. The hens are confined to the coop area today , they're not to happy about that. I hope I can find out who the dogs belong too , if not I will call animal control the next time I see them roaming.

~ Blessings ~

JoyceAnn