We Bought a Farm: Predators ... again!

With the arrival of summer, we are trying to start our days earlier so as to "beat the heat." Ideally, this would be 6am. If we didn't have kiddos and JB didn't work twelve-hour-shifts, I think that's what we would do. But because the kids need to eat and have supervision (and other "annoying" things like that) we are trying 8am. 

This morning we set up some sheep paddock with everyone at 8am. 

Then our wwoofer Jake headed over to do the ducks only to let us know that we had lost a half dozen ducks and a goose overnight to a predator. 

I'll spare you gory pictures and details and instead refer you back to a post I wrote about the last time this occurred.

Here's the truth. We willingly give up about a chicken a month to the hawks. They are hungry. They need to eat. And so we don't fight the hawks on this.

And I would willingly give up a duck now and then to a hungry predator. 

But when they take one bite out of all of them and just leave them there to rot?!

That really gets me. 

The coyote population has to be controlled. In fact: it was one of the only animals you are allowed to shoot anytime, anywhere, for any reason. They are impossible to "decimate" because they actually increase litter sizes based on the "need" of their community. (Isn't that crazy and so cool of God to do?!)

We can't be positive that it was a coyote responsible for the mayhem, but we feel pretty confident that was the culprit. And it is so frustrating to see him not eat his kill.

He took one of our two remaining geese: a gal we call Flower and a bunch of ducks. He did manage to kindly leave one male and one female duck so we will try to incubate and get some more ducks here on the farm. 

But bummer!