3 brown

lost an older bird overnight. neighbors called about ruckus in chicken yard, i went out and culprit was gone. 4 or 5 chickens were not roosting, saw blood on ground where chicken was likely caught. Carcass was warm when I found it. I'm going to stay up, will terminate with extreme prejudice when the culprit comes around.

It looks like next year's order for laying hens will be bigger than I'd planned. 3 aracauna, probably some rhode island red and/or barred rock (want a minimum of 3 BR, 5 RI Red) and possibly a more exotic brown egg layer. Flock should be 14 strong laying hens for spring 2010, which may be a year with no chick order. Ultimately I'd like to have 5 year old hens being culled as replacements reach 1 year old. Vagaries of predation, etc may mean flock drops as low as 6 hens over a winter... I also need to give consideration predator control - maybe build a new coop that is unfriendly to predators. Electric fence is probably a good idea.