The Laws of Nature

The laws of nature exist.  No doubt it has to happen so the balance of animals, food, etc. work for the benefit of the world.  However, when it happens to one of the creatures you have raised from just a baby, you wish that it did not have to be.
Last Saturday we let the chickens out of their pen so they could "free range".  When Mel and I drove up to the barn to do chores, we saw many feathers on the ground.  No way could that be good.  After investigating we found out that our Eagle was the cause of the feathers.  She was lying in the grass and we assumed she was dead.  I did not see any of the other chickens and became upset.  My calm husband reminded me that things such as this were a part of farm life.  I agreed, but did not want that to apply to us.  Further investigation revealed one of our red hens was in the back of the coop as though she was hiding, still no sign of the rooster and 2 other chickens.  I called and called.  Poor little Eagle (our chick who "did her own thing") came limping and barely made it to the coop.  I gently put her inside for protection.  After several minutes our rooster and other chickens came from around the barn.  It was quite a chore for me to get the chickens in their pen.    We do not know what happened at the barn.  We suspect a stray dog because all of the cats' food was gone from their feeder and that does not happen normally, but also there are plenty of coyotes around.  In fact a coyote was south of the house as we were headed to the barn.  It was close to one of our cows that had just calved.  Mel shot at it a couple of times, scared it and it ran off.  Regardless, our chickens are now in their pen safely locked up from predators.  Our Eagle did not survive.