R.I.P. Beulah Abbingsole

I am very sad to report that it appears Beulah was taken by our neighborhood Cooper hawk this evening.

We had learned from our neighborhood Yahoo group that there are a pair of Cooper hawks living a few blocks from here and that they had taken chickens before. I have purchased netting to put up between the fence top and the edge of the lower deck to provide covering for the chicks, but wasn't feeling urgent about it. Then, night before last I actually heard the screech of a hawk as dusk was settling in. I was planning on putting up the netting this weekend, but I was too late.

We got home tonight from work, and helping out friends, close to 7pm and it was already dark. When I went into the chicken run, Dionne was already in the coop and Gladys (formerly known as Eunice) ran up to me seeming startled. Beulah was nowhere to be found. Not a feather among the hay. I can only assume one of the hawks picked her off. She was the weakling, still recovering a bit from her run-in with Lottie. She was an easy target.

So, tomorrow my Mom flies to town for the Halloween weekend and I intend to take her to Mike's Feed Store in the late afternoon to replace our lost chick. And maybe get one more. Oh, and put up the netting.