I think it’s important to post the bad with the good. Life on the farm is not perfect shots of sunsets and frolicking lambs every moment. Behind the picturesque scenes I post for the interwebs, there’s blood, sweat, and tears. A lot of tears. Today was that day. My beautiful, sweet, kind rooster, Percival, went in to defend one of this hens against our LGD, Cleopatra, and paid with his life. He defended her to her death, and saved her.
It would be very easy to be angry with Cleo. After all, she’s a livestock GUARDIAN, not eater. But she is a pup, and pups eat chickens unless you train them not to. And I’ve been so busy training her with the sheep I’ve put maybe a few hours into chicken training. She seemed so calm around them I took the situation for granted. And a hen wandered into her side of the enclosure through the hog fence and the rest is history.
My hope is one of these hens will get broody in the next week and set eggs that will hopefully have Percy’s lineage to pass on to a new rooster. We wrapped the bottom of the entire sheep paddock with chicken wire to buy some security. And I will be much more aggressive with daily training for Cleo to keep her eyes away from my chickens entirely. But for now, I just miss my Percy and his glorious strut. Goodnight, sweet Prince.