A few nights ago at about 11pm, Tony and Sean were startled by screaming hens. They ran to our door and warned us and we got to the school bus chicken coop, which was surrounded by electric fence and it was areadyl over.
27 hens with various neck and head injuries resulting in death. Ranging from deep neck breaking lacerations and bites to fully bit off heads. The amazing thing is it happened so fast, the bodies were still warm.
it was a blood thirsty kill, they were all intact except for the kill wound
Based on the crime scene and reports from 3 people that spend time on the farm we think it was a mink. A mink had been spotted on 3 occasions and a signature of their kill is what I described
This was a shocking blow. I never thought they would have trouble in the front pasture near the road, but these predators are all around and watching 24/7
The next day I got Murphy out there, he is our maremma livestock guardian dog. I wasn't sure he would not eat the hens either but after a few hours I let him alone with the hens. His instincts kicked in. He paroled the perimeter at dusk, barked a lot in the wee hours of the morn and even let the hens go into his personal hut
We can't keep Murphy with them forever as he is needed somewhere else soon so we may need to find another LGD
WE KNEW THIS WAS PART OF THE DEAL. the circle of life is ever present on the farm and is a delicate balance
Please help us recover by purchasing our pastures eggs at the farm stand , or on this site there is a way to make a small donation. Anything helps
Also please check out
Www.farmmatch.com/heritagevalleynj
See you at the farm
Jeff & Susan