Welcome, Margaret Dashwood

We had a bit of doggy drama a couple of weeks ago.  We had to give Avery away.  It was really difficult to come to that decision.  We've had Avery for four years.  She is a very good huntress and is constantly killing moles, rabbits, squirrels, birds, opossums, and even pinning armadillos.  Since we got our chickens, Avery has been biding her time, just waiting for a chance to get one outside the chicken condo.  She's a patient stalker. The best ones are.

A couple weeks ago I was doing some routine cleaning of the chicken condo and refreshed the pine shavings.  That pine bag is huge and I had to keep the door open a bit to wrangle it out-which provided just enough time for two chickens to slip out.

This was the moment that Avery had been dreaming about for months.

I corralled the hens as best I could and managed to get one back inside the pen when Avery entered the scene, National Geographic style.  She was the ferocious lioness zeroing in on the doomed antelope.  It was instinct.  Child's play.  She grinned the whole time.

She did quite a bit of damage to the poor bird before I was able to get her off it.  It was HenriettaFive.  I had five red hens and they were all Henriettas, 1-5.  Poor HenriettaFive died a terrible and slow death.

So Avery was given away last weekend to a local.  He brought his dog to meet Avery and to make sure that they would get along.  He was very attuned to Avery's doggie psyche and they were a great match.  Avery is now galavanting in the Madison county hills with her little aussie amiga chasing all the varmints a girl could wish for.

We decided the giving away loss of a dog was not to be treated like the death of a spouse where you have a respectable period of mourning before you court again.  So we found a chicken protecting great pyrenees and we snagged her up.  Days later.

Her name is Margaret Dashwood because that's Eva's favorite name in the whole wide world.  Margaret Dashwood loves Eva 100% and Eva loves Margaret Dashwood 20%.

This is Margaret Dashwood at the farm where we got her.  She was born and raised the last seven weeks inside a barn with goats and chickens all around.  
Here's our bright cheeked girl.  She tolerated Happy Puppy for quite a while but much prefers Sleeping Puppy.  
Oh man, is there anything sweeter than a girl and her pup? 
This little dog is getting a lot of Eva time and is visiting the chickens everyday.  After the recent death in their community, they're understandably afraid of white dogs. But we'll get there.  Someday Margaret Dashwood will be the gentle protector of the hens.  And then they will range freely....on the FARM:)