DISASTER

Nothing gets the heart pumping first thing in the morning like your children in a panic. Two of the kids were yelling, out of breath, and talking over one another. I put on my calm fatherly hat and said, "What was that?" "Something killed all the chickens!", they manage to say in unison. Oh boy. Sure enough, death has come quickly. Something dug under the chicken brooder and killed 30 baby chickens. To this point, we have not had problems with predators on the property. Hence, we became lax and lost our sense of vigilance. We suspect our cat as the culprit since the hole seemed too small for opossum or raccoon. Plus he has a history of killing as he did grab one of last year's chickens and taste-tested a wing. Incidentally, the amount of flies was staggering, sounding like the luzula horns at the world cup, just a constant buzzing in my ears. We have one bright spot in this whole tale - one made it out alive. I guess she ducked out through the hole when the killing started. The kids found her stumbling around by the compost in a state of shock. So immediately the kids are nursing her back to health and she looks pretty good despite what she went through. While it is not a happy day here at Turtle Rock Farms, God will provide. We will make the brooder a little more secure and we will move on. Lessons learned on the farm can sometimes be harsh ones, but we are glad for the experience.