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Predators

 My phone camera has not been working very well, so you will probably have to click on the pictures and zoom in a bit to see the coyotes that came to visit on Friday morning. Kelsay and I had just gotten up and we heard a  very loud yip-yip-yip. At first I thought it was Houdini and something was wrong. I turned to go to the mudroom to grab my shoes and Kelsay ran to the window. Suddenly she yelled, "Mommy, look! What is that?" I ran to the window in time to see a coyote saunter through the yard and toward the chicken house. It was 8 degrees that morning and had been colder before  we got up. I think our low was 2 or 3. So  I hadn't been outside to open the chicken thankfully. The coyote stared at and circled the coop and then a second coyote walked into the picture and joined him. After deciding that they could not get into the coop for a fresh chicken dinner, they marked a perimeter around the coop and chicken yard and left. So I knew that they would be back.






That evening about 4, Aaron and the girls and I all went to the walking trail for a run. I meant to close the coop before we left, but on the way back I realized that I hadn't done it. The sun was going down and I had a bad feeling the coyotes were on the way back. I told Aaron, I need to sprint home and close the coop. So as we started running up the driveway I could hear the yip-yip-yip of the coyotes. I yelled something and started running even harder toward the coop. As  I came to the house and ran past to go to the coop I could see they two coyotes veering off through our north pasture toward Triple B ranch (neighbors to eat of us). I had just barely gotten there in time. As I ran toward the coop , an owl swooped out of the pine tree overlooking the coop and flew of to the east as well. So this time I beat the predators and kept my chickens safe, but I definitely feel the urge to build or buy an enclosure for the chicken yard ASAP. 

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