I tried to scan this letter but it got caught in the machine! On to Plan B — take photos to share. Thank you Eliza, for being so sweet to write a thank you letter to Agnes!

Well, it had to happen at some point. Our poor house sitter went outside to find Jessica prone, headless, and mangled in the coop. Interesting that predators are so consistent – they always eat the chicken head first. They also generally eat the nether regions but I didn’t want to subject the house sitter to that type of cadaver inspection.

The other ladies are a bit rattled, but otherwise OK. Egg production is down, but picking up again. We found a small breach at the base of the coop, a place where a single strand of wire had rusted out. We can’t tell what happened for sure, but Jessica may have had her head stuck outside, or something small and agile may have come in. It’s tough to be a chicken.

For any of you who don’t know me, I am not heartless. I am sad she died, but if you keep chickens you have to put up a barrier, a clinical approach to death. They are my pets, but they die frequently and in unpleasant, messy ways. I’ve had exactly one chicken die of old age, poor old Larry, who was actually senile.

Silver linings: I only lost one. The others will benefit from more run space. She lived a relatively long chicken life. I found the hole and patched it.

My neighbors are probably a little frightened if they look up the hill in the morning. No one has ever accused me of being fashionable when I am on chicken duty. On  a recent, especially lazy morning, I couldn’t even bother changing out of my pajamas before donning my muck boots and heading out to give the ladies fresh water. Unfortunately for my legs, I was wearing a pair of monkey santa hat flannel pants, a gift from my friend Rebecca a few years back. They are wonderfully comfortable, and covered with these:

Unfortunately for my legs, the cute santa hats are the same color as tomatoes. Chickens LOVE tomatoes, so I had six hens attacking my legs, trying to extract tomato juice from my pajamas. 30 second later I escaped, but not before I had 6 painful welts (“chicken hickies”) all over my lower legs.

Moral: Do not wear monkey santa hat pants in the chicken coop.

I spent a full winter dealing with ice in the chicken water container coop. Twice a day, I would fetch the plastic water containers, bring them to the house and de-ice under hot water. I got tired of this, and then tried using a hammer to smash the ice out. The problem with that approach is that chickens need water, and if it’s too cold they won’t drink it. The next winter I finally spent cash on a heated dog bowl — it’s up there on my list of “the best $25 I’ve ever spent.” This is the model I use, available at Amazon.com: Farm Innovators 1-1/2-Gallon Round Heated Pet Bowl – Green Model P-60, 60-Watt

Now I change water once a day, and they have ice-free liquid all day. Definitely worth the $25.99!