Hope Springs Eternal

I was already having a bad day when I went out to check on the chickens. I had forgotten to go out the evening before to see if all six bird were roosting in the coop. And that also meant that I hadn't closed the door to lock them safely in.

As far as I knew, Rockstar hadn't even left the chicken run since I had lured her out there nearly a week earlier. But I wasn't sure if the three hens that were foraging were sleeping back in the coop or had reverted to sleeping in the stable again.

As soon as I flung open the coop door, I saw the half-eaten carcass of one chicken and a thick layer of feathers over the floor that could only have been Rockstar's.

Guilt, regret, anger, grief...

What business do I have keeping animals if I can't keep them safe? If only I hadn't locked Rockstar up in the coop... If only I had at least remember to check on them that night. Why hadn't anyone reminded me, anyway? ...

And then today, the McMurray catalog came in the mail, filled with drawings of dozens of breeds of birds and pictures of cute little, fuzz balls.

So I started plotting and daydreaming.

This year, I'll build a nice, wooden brooder instead of using the metal watering trough. That didn't seem to work too well last year in the chilly weather. And I'll need to put chicken wire up on the field fencing and look into aviary netting for added protection. And maybe build a second coop if the kids are going to be doing 4H.......