4-1=3

On Saturday Offspring #2 and was helping me put railings on my deck.  I decided to let my pets out to enjoy a fine summer day.  I put Migwe, the canary, out on the lawn so that grass camp up under the floor of his cage.  He enjoyed a nice day outside.  I let the four chickens out to roam the yard. They like to eat bugs in the compost, scratch for worms in the garden, and eat pebbles out of the driveway.  We took a break about 12:30 to make and eat lunch and that is why the fox struck.  I assume it was the fox but I didn't actually see the assailant.  By what we could gather from the feathers and blood stains, the fox grabbed the chicken on the path nearest my azalea bush.  We found the longer tail feathers there.  The fox took it towards the road and must have adjusted the position of the chicken in it's mouth because there was a pile of bloody feathers there.  These feathers were smaller in size.  The fox followed the path through the woods and adjusted position again.  This is where we found a pile of downy feathers with white on the lower half of the feathers.  I thought I found the chicken's comb but that turned out to be a fungus growing there.  I also found an empty pack of menthol Newport cigarettes which kinda freaks me out to think someone has been smoking on my path in the woods.  We heard the chicken scream out once and rushed out there but could not see anything.  Based on that I think the chicken died quickly.  We could not figure out where the fox took the chicken from there.  The trail went cold.  Either the fox took it away without dropping another feather or it teleported somewhere  I've been preparing myself for this event ever since I first spotted the fox.  I thought if I lost a chicken to a fox it wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen.  Blah, blah, circle of life, blah, blah.  Isn't it better to loose a chicken to another wild creature than have it die from heat or starvation or neglect or illness?  Pep talks aside, I'm still bummed out to loose such a beautiful young chicken. This is what I get for changing my yard from a monoculture of grass full of herbicides and pesticides to a nature friendly environment. These chickens must weight 8 pounds.  How can a fox who weighs between 8 and 15 pounds carry it away so quickly?  And only with their mouth - they don't use their hands.  I surely can't carry half my weight away quickly and silently and especially if it were struggling.  Maybe the fox got lucky and killed it quickly.  I hope so.