Foxy Loxy!

It was around 4 o'clock this morning when I heard the eerie bark of one of several local foxes. At least one has its lair in Hook Wood and another has its home in the field next door in a rundown old pigsty. They are becoming ever more daring these days, and often prowl across the fields in broad daylight. One came within just a few metres of me last summer as I stood by the stables in chicken protection mode having lost my entire flock of bantams to the foxes a few weeks previously. I say entire flock, I mean all the useful ones that laid eggs as a very battered looking cockeral did survive the attack! It took me several weeks before I was able to restock - hen keeping has certainly become a very popular activity since that Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall got his hands on them and has meant pullet prices have rocketed. C'est la vie! Now I have 4 partridge bantam hens and cockeral and 4 black pekin bantam hens and cockeral so, with any luck, I'll be able to increase my flock this year to previous numbers or thereabouts. Must remember to turn on the electric fencing tonight!