Feeling a little depressed and upset today.    When I got up, as usual I went
down the back to the chicken pen, to let them out into the garden and feed
them.   Surprisingly, there were no happy chickens at the gate.

It took me a few seconds to realise that there were feathers everywhere,
and that the brown blob against the fence, and the other crumpled heap
by the coop, were in fact my two chickens, lying dead.

What killed them?    I don’t know, because there is a six foot tall fence
around the pen.   It’s open at the top, because we didn’t think anything
could get at them, but obviously we were wrong.

There’s a six foot fence around the garden, so dogs and foxes can’t
get in, and we live in the suburbs anyway.

The only thing I can think of is cats.   That, or the neighbour’s pet
ferrets paid a visit.    No proof though, so what can one do?

Will I get more chickens?    Well, that I’ll have to give serious thought
to, because what’s to stop the same thing happening again?

We can put bird netting over the top of the pen to keep out cats, who
are capable of climbing the wire if they really want to, but ferrets can
get through chicken wire very easily.

Nothing I like better than digging graves for pets before breakfast,
so perhaps now you can understand why I feel a bit down.