Peep and the small back yard

Peep and the Big Wide World is an old cartoon from PBS. It stars a blue duckling named, “Quack”, a red bird named, “Chirp” and a chick named, “Peep.” It’s narrated by Joan Cusack. They go on tiny little adventures, Quack is a smart ass, Joan Cusack is really funny in it, and everyone learns a little leason. Check it out.

Well, when we first thought about getting chickens, we did some research and found out that there is a breed of chicken called ‘silkies’. They’re smaller, not very loud, not super scratchy and easier overall. We decided to start with those, even though they’re harder to ‘sex’ when they’re still chicks, which means you’re risking getting roosters. Roosters don’t give eggs, so without chickens they’re just pets. We got three silkies. Got lucky and they grew to be two girls and one boy. We gave the boy away, and one of the girls poisoned herself with fertilizer. That left us with one: Peep. Our kid named her. Pretty soon after, we aquired more chickens. Regular size ones since we thought we knew more, but more on that later. 

Since Peep, was smaller, older and didn’t scratch the growing beds, she was the only full time free-range chicken. She had access to everything and everywhere in the yard. She even couped herself. Right before we left, we noticed that she had disappeared leaving a few feathers behind. Seriously that happened. We figured, a large bird or a raccoon got a hold of her. While sad, we understand the food chain, and the kid didn’t really notice. 

Fast forward to this last Saturday. We are still cleaning the yard and preparing it for planting (actually, the first seeds are already in their pots) when my husband looks at me from Oakland and signals me to come over. Our kid was playing in the sand, and clearly he didn’t want her attention. When I get closer I’m like, “what’s up?” And, smiling, he’s like “I found out what happened to peep” and I’m like “what happened?” And he points down with his finger, and I see the poor chicken’s SKELETON!

What in heavens name would make him think that I wanted to see that I’ll NEVER know! We think that one of the local street cats got a hold of her. As in tracked her, watched her, captured her and ate her. While we were home! 

We live in an ‘Old McDonald Mexican Telenovela’!