~ THEN THERE WERE SIX~

 What began as a lovely March day...sunshine...snow melting...continued sunshine...lunch with family...Travis catching 40 winks on the return drive home...radio on...car window cracked...fresh air... note... local Dairy Queen  open for the season...perhaps a good  afternoon for the "girls" to stretch their legs...  locate a blade of grass...find a bit of dirt...good mental health weather...

After pulling into the driveway... while Travis slumbered... I headed to the coop...mercy me...what I encountered was beyond belief...a hawk...a large...no... huge hawk had made it's way into the coop...yes...inside the coop...as I neared...the hawk flew out of the  hen door ... up between the roof netting and off across the field...tragically... the remains of a massacred  hen  lay before me...Rosie, a prized egg layer and pet...I stood there momentarily dumbfounded...soon realizing I needed to find out the well being of my remaining flock... but... afraid of what I might discover...were they slaughtered too? ...thankfully... huddled together  in a corner...traumatized...but safe... six  hens...six ladies with all their feathers and toes were accounted for...

Sometimes life at Dog Trot Farm is a little too close to the Wild Kingdom.....I fear this saga has just begun...hold on girls it's going to be a bumpy ride....