We haven't had any issues for a while but last night the yard chickens woke use up with some squawking. Then I realized I had forgotten to close their house. Uhgg! So, I run down to kitchen, grab shotgun, two rounds on the shelf, first goes in in the dark, backwards, can't get out, fumble for flashlight that should be in the basket, no go, find one of the not so good ones, grab .22mag, cycle bolt, flip on porch light, nothing visible, go outside in pj's and flip flops, look around fenced yard, nothing, go to chicken house, feathers all over, open top, no birds (should be five little silkies).... Ok, no immediate threat seen so I look over the fence to the driveway, I don't see any eyes, though one double reflector on a bicycle tire got me going a little.
I walk toward the back fence and see a couple of the chickens cowering in the grass, they are still alive anyways. I look out over the back fence that is about five feet high and see eyes looking back from about 25 yardsw away at the edge of our newly bulldozed backyard. I reached the rifle up over the fence, no eyes, dang too slow... there they are, crosshairs in the middle, boom! I can't see anything, but I can hear it thumping, sounds like a headshot - YEAH! I go out the back gate and check to make sure, it's down.
Anyways, four of the chickens were OK, the other might actually have been taken the night before as it's pile of feathers looks like it has been frosted. I guess I didn't count them when I fed them the previous day.
Of course it got one of the three layers, couldn't have ben a rooster.
So I went back to bed. At nine (OK, it's a Sunday, I'm not hunting and I've had a couple of late nights...
), my next door neighbor calls and she's got a mink racing around outside her chicken coop trying to figure out how to get in. I get dressed and zip down there. She tells me he is running around outside the coop so I start sneaking down to see if I can get a shot. As I get close, two chickens come blasting out of the house followed by the mink coming down the ramp. I jog down to the coop. By the time I get there, he has one of the hens by the rear so I just take a shot through the fence, trying not to hit the chicken. I missed, both, and he took off. Unfortunately, he was right next to the hole he had crawled through and was able to get out before I could take another shot. I set two of my traps up for her so we will see what the morning light brings.
