More Detail on the Chicken Tragedy

Here's the whole tragic tale.

It's going to be hot today so I thought it would be a good chance to let the chickens play in the grass. I set up a circle of wire fencing so they could play unmolested by Rosie.

After a while, Adam let Andy out too, and he barked up a storm at them. I did the "dog whisperer" SHH and sit techniques on him for a while and he calmed down. Then Charlotte, Andy and I all went back inside to eat breakfast. While we were inside, Rosie ignored the chicks and lay on the porch relaxing in the shade.

When it was time for Adam to leave for work, Charlotte, Andy and I went back outside. Andy ignored the chicks. As soon as Adam drove away, Charlotte wanted to go visit Pake.

Here's the part where I want a time machine to go back and undo. Why didn't I put the chickens back in their brooder first? Or at least stick Andy in the house?

But, no, I just walked away, leaving them defenseless.

Evidence shows that Andy dug under the fencing, then knocked it open. The chicks had no chance.

When I came upon the scene, Andy was inside the C of the wire enclosure, surrounded by four chicken corpses. I started to cry and ran inside the house. "Andy got the chickens! The chickens are gone!" I said.

Through my tears, I found the phone and called Adam. I posted the news on facebook and here.

Adam rushed home from work to help me clean up the massacre. When he got here we all went outside. Charlotte ran to the wire enclosure. "Look! I found them! They're sleeping!" she said.

Adam found three of the missing chicks, evidently carried off by Rosie to her favorite spot in the yard. We're not sure what happened to the eighth chick ... most likely it was eaten by one of the dogs.

While Adam dug a hole and buried the seven little bodies, I cleaned up their brooder and all the supplies I'd been using for their care, sobbing the whole time.

I never thought I'd be so sad about the death of chickens. I mean, I eat chicken almost every day. I'm eating it right now for lunch.

I did tell Charlotte that the chickens were so hurt that their bodies didn't work anymore and they weren't going to wake up.

We probably will get more chicks. After all, I have all the supplies -- including 25 lbs of feed -- and the chicks are only $2.50 a piece at Tractor Supply Company. And now I know we definitely need to build our chicken yard in such a way to prevent predatory digging.