Goodbye Cairo

A Fox In The Run

Its been a while since I last blogged, and quite alot has happened in that time. We have sprayed our veg for flies and caterpillars, planted over 100 trees, and planted some cabbages. But most of the news is on the chickens. Its been quite a strange week with them really. Having not had much time around lotty this week it was nice to have to clean the coop out so I could spend a bit of time with the girls. They all seemed happy to have me there. Rita was in and out of the coop checking to see if it was ready for her yet. Cairo found a seat for herself on the wheelbarrow, which, whilst being slightly inconvenient, it was nevertheless lovely to have her with me. The second I had finished Rita was straight in arranging her little nest. I watch her for five minutes, then came back to check on her progress regularly. She hadnt laid by the time I left, but I suppose its not the easiest thing to do.

When we returned later that evening to put them to bed there were a few strange things around the coop. Firstly Rita cowered when I went near her which is unusual as she is the most sociable, and I had to pick her up to put her in as she wouldnt move. The other two were already in the coop, which is unusual in itself unless Rita is already in there. Whilst putting Rita in, John told us to come and look at what he'd found. In the corner of the run was a soft shelled egg. I googled it the next day and the possibilities were either Rita had, had a shock and just dropped it where she was standing, or it was one of the other twos first attempt at and egg.

Yesterday (Saturday) we were away most of the day and didnt get back to put the girls away until around 7:30. Walking down towards the coop I could see that something wasnt right. The food had been knocked over, Alison was outside the run and the other two wernt visible. After getting Alison into the coop, we found Rita curled up in her nest and was quickly joined by Alison. Cairo unfortunately was missing. Given the feathers scattered around the run, and the fact that there had been an obvious disturbance we can only assume she was taken by a fox.

Cairo was a lovely girl. She was working her way to the top of the pecking order and despite her position in the hierarchy she was still willing to fight it out with Rita for the biggest worms and best dust bath spot. Im just glad she had a happy life with us in the time that she had here.