We had a tragic event happen. Due to human error and a faulty gate latch our pack got back to the coop and killed our flock. Backyard chickens was an adventure I took on for one purpose…I wanted our pack to have access to organic farm fresh eggs, having enough for our family was a bonus. I knew having chickens and the huskies was going to be risky. I thought we had a great set up. The chickens were kept away from the pack. It took 2 gates to get to them. For over a year it worked great and I learned to love my girls and enjoy tending to them. This incident was beyond heartbreaking.

Thankfully a few chicks managed to get out of their coop and under the fence. We could hear them but not find them. After trespassing and searching our neighbors yards during a thunderstorm my 2 sons and I managed to find 4 of the chicks. I called a friend who had a flock of her own, Tina, who is also a Supernova puppy owner, and talked to her about taking the surviving chicks. I was heartbroken. I was very angry at myself, it was my job to keep them safe and I blew it. She said she would take them but for me to think about it before deciding. Things like this happen and to not be so hard on myself. I called my husband (he’s out of town for work) and he didn’t even give me a chance to give up. He assured me we would re evaluate our coop and the gates and make any and all improvements necessary. My 13 year old was also adamant that we start over especially after searching all day for the chicks. So I found a local chicken (person? breeder?) and last night we added 8 chicks to our flock of four babies. We are going to start over.

Because our flock is apart of our family and I share our adventures with them, it was important for me to share this experience as well. Raising animals is not easy. The ups and downs and heartbreak is real. I have learned that shit happens… some you can control some you can’t. And if it is human error then we need to address it, fix it and try again if we can. Once again, I want to thank my husband for supporting me on this crazy journey, my friends for listening to me cry, and my kids for being there to help. I could not have made it through the last few days without them.