One awful summer I faced flock carnage.  I couldn’t figure out how my chickens were being slaughtered in the evenings, locked up in their coop. This went on for three nights and I was starting to panic as the body count mounted up. I was about 8 months pregnant – I hauled my gigantic body on top of the coop to discover hundreds of little muddy raccoon hand prints, and a corner of chicken wire that had been peeled away as an entrance. Grrrr.

When your chicken wire starts to get rusty, weak, or bent out of shape, it’s a good idea to peel it off and slap on a fresh batch. My sweet husband spent the weekend doing this for me, check out how nice it looks! The original wire lasted almost 3 years, but I was about a year overdue on this update.

When I did do this at the old place, I would give then entire flock prophylactic antibiotics. Not a great option, since the eggs had to be chucked and I want to avoid antiobiotic resistance. But, I was able to keep most of the birds alive. Don’t listen to me – read Gail Damerow.  She’s my favorite chicken author for advice and reference. If you’re planning to keep chickens, I’d recommend reading The Chicken Health Handbook first, and keeping it on hand for any health questions.

If you’re interested in getting your chicken permit, call Nashville’s Environmental Health Division at (615) 340-5653. You can add your name to the list and they will call you when the paperwork is ready to go.

My ladies are so excited!

Josie is sitting in a large tupperware box at my feet. I am going to flush her socket with saline and hope for the best. She seems a bit perkier this am, so I’m hoping she’ll recover soon. Photos seems a little much a this point. Ironically, our daughter suffered an eye injury in the corresponding eye, but a day before. Fortunately her eyeball is still intact, but it’s quite a a shiner.

Anyway, the molt  reminded me of last year’s family vacation to Jersey Shore. We visited a small zoo. It was strapped for resources, but they obviously cared about their animals and were working hard to make a nice environment for them. The most memorable animal? Not the lion (although his roar was awesome!). The honor didn’t go to an mpressive wild animal, it went to Henry, the rooster. Check this guy out:

Apparently I was not the only one taken aback by poor Henry. They had this sign posted on the fence around his pen:

Opossums eat chickens. We’ll have to review the coop in the daylight tomorrow to find the breach. In the meantime, I locked the door to the roosting area. Unfortunately, the opossum will return, and she’ll quadruple in size.