Duchess is dead

I was away for four days at a family reunion. A friend of mine was taking care of my chickens but since she could only come by once a day she couldn't open and close my chicken coop (The "Chicken Breasts 2000") I decided it would be OK to just leave the coop open the whole time I was gone. I usually close it up at night to keep the chickens safe from nocturnal predators. Chickens are very vulnerable at night because they really don't put up much of a fight when they are sleepy. It wasn't the smartest move, but I felt it would be better than leaving them cooped up, especially considering how hot it is right now.

Enough back story... I got back home today to discover my loss. After settling in I headed back to the CB-2000 and check on the hens and lock up the coop. Duchess was nowhere to be found. But I noticed some feathers scattered about. I widened my circle to include the lawn in the back yard only to find more feathers, chunks of flesh attached to feathers, and a chicken head. The chicken head was pretty beat up, so it's not like I can give a positive "ID", but I'm pretty certain it is (was?) Duchess.

Right now I'm thinking it was either a skunk or a raccoon that did her in. But you never know, a dog might have gotten in there during the day and gotten her. That's never happened before so I'm really leaning toward skunk or raccoon... something nocturnal. Considering that she seems to have been consumed almost entirely, I really doubt it was a domestic animal. ( Who knows, it might have even been a hard up chupacabra)

I'm pretty bummed about this. I would have been a little upset if one of the new hens was the one that got it but for Duchess to be the one to buy the farm is a real upset. IMHO she really deserved to live after giving me so many chicks and putting up with the two roosters for so long. The thing that really has me scratching my head is why that skunk or raccoon didn't ever eat any of the eggs in the past. Duchess was laying eggs in the bushes at one point for nearly a month before I noticed and as far as I could tell no pests ever bothered to eat any. Not even rats.

It was stupid of me to leave the hens unlocked at night. I probably should have moved them into the garage while I was away. Now I know there is SOMETHING that will attack and kill them at night so I will be more careful in the future. I just wish it didn't have to be duchess that was the first to go.

R.I.P. Duchess You will be missed.