SKUNK!

Not too long ago a skunk made its way into the young chickens area of the barn.  Sharon heard the chickens in the middle of the night (windows closed and sound asleep - mother hearing...) making a racket.  The thing with a skunk, at least in our experience with chickens, is that they kill first and then come back to eat what they've killed. When Sharon woke me I thought she said there's smoke in the barn!  After saying huh a couple of times I figured out that it was SKUNK!  We ran outside to dispatched the skunk and save what chickens were left.  When we got the skunk cornered in the barn I had a quick thought - when I dispatch this cornered skunk I'm going to end up smelling like skunk, but to save the rest of the chickens I just hoped for the best.  Luck was with me and the skunk never sprayed.  Luck was not with us as far as the chickens were concerned.  Sharon lost 41 of her young chickens to the skunk.  Next was the management decision.  More chicks this late in the year, or smaller flock with new chicks in the spring?