A hawk got Peep yesterday.

A neighbor came over to warn me just after dinner. Like an idiot, I forgot to put the dog out to guard the chickens.

My first concern was securing the rest of our birds. I found 7 hiding in the brush by our well but 3 were missing. Peep, Terdie, and little Betty. Terdie and Betty are my babies. They always run to me first.

It took what felt like forever to find them. My husband came out to help me after getting the kids settled and Terdie appeared as if from nowhere. Then Betty poked her head out and we got our flock together and settled in the coop.

“Where’s Peep?” My husband asked.

I already knew. The entire time I was searching for Terdie and Betty, neighbors kept driving by our house and slowing down looking across the road.

With the survivors safe, I went to the ditch across the road and found a hawk eating Peep. My husband was so mad I think he would have waged war with a damn tank if he could’ve. Instead he chased the hawk off and I scooped up Peep’s broken body with a shovel.

I go back and forth on this. I believe all creatures have a purpose, and of course, the hawk is just trying to live like everyone else, but I’m not offering my chickens up as fair game.

So we cremated Peep in the fire pit.

I made him a little funeral pyre, then surrounded him with our old Christmas tree branches and said good-bye.

I took a few pics for my daughter but I really hate it all. Peep’s poor little body was so mangled I had to cover most of it.

We suspected Peep was a rooster. Peep was always looking out for the others and very protective of them. Plus Peep reacted like a boy in the good old fashioned dangle test.

Knowing Peep, he died protecting the flock.

We’re definitely at a loss. It was an emotional day to say the least, especially being that this was our sweet 11-year-old’s chicken and she is so connected to all of them.

Earlier this week we had a success with a predator-situation. In between writing and teaching on Wednesday, the dog went nuts in the backyard and trapped a opossum between our fence and the neighbor’s.

My 11-year-old suited up and got in the tiny space between our fences to drape a towel over the critter and help me get it into a box.

Now I know the average person might be freaked out by this, but opossums are super docile. They bare their teeth and hiss, they might even lunge, but after volunteering for The Wildlife Rescue Center and working as a vet assistant for a local zoologist (who treated backyard pets like opossums) I know they’re big fat liars who rarely hurt people.

I felt confident that we could do this without any injuries. Especially when the silly thing realized we weren’t scared and started playing dead. The kids thought that was hilarious but I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay.

My husband wanted me to call animal control, but I’m not the waiting around type and I like handling what I can when I can.

So we got the opossum and released it in a nearby park. No chickens lost, and no hard feelings.

Now we’re on a mission to deter this resident hawk. I can’t shoot it–thanks to an over 100 year old law–but if my dog eats it… haha

We’ve been needing to put up a scarecrow and we found some cool hawk deterring pinwheels that reflect light in a way to freak them out.

We’re still building the second coop and getting the fencing for a secure chicken run going, a la deer netting on top. This is def quickening our pace on finishing that.

Peep was a good bird. The flock isn’t the same without him.

I’m not about to let this happen again.