The D-List

I am full of D-words.  Disgusted, depressed, dismayed, devastated, displeased, dejected, demolished, dispirited, defeated and downright despondent. I was planning on talking about some of the other wildlife challenges we've been having.  Our egg count is really low, and it's more than just lazy chickens… We've been finding eggs with holes.  At first we thought the chickens were stepping on them or possibly egg-eating, but they have TONS of calcium and the shells are fine.  Then we realized it was Blue Jays.  They figured out that they could sneak in the coop and mess with the eggs, solely to drive me crazy, I'm sure.  Then, a couple days after that discovery, I was mowing the grass with the perfect view of a crow carrying an egg off in its beak!!!  ACK! That is what I was going to talk about.  But I'm not.  We had ANOTHER coyote strike.  We've lost 7 chickens in 16 days.  And they got our baby, our Silky Sue.  So now I'm full of D-words.  I guess these are the days that really make a farmer.  I really don't even want to go on.  I'm tired of having my chickens be a smorgasbord for this opportunistic skudge (that is probably not a word, just how I feel about them right now.)  We can't afford to buy a live trap, and our state wildlife folks aren't willing to help, even though the 'yotes are considered a nuisance since they are taking livestock – and they are striking in the middle of the day!   Our only option is to hang out for hours on end, hoping they don't smell us, hoping they come back, then shoot them.  But seriously, who has that kind of time?  So the chickens are in lock up again, also displeased, wanting greens and bugs.  Any thoughts on what we can do to empower ourselves against these wildlife violators?