Why We Gave Away Our Chickens and Rabbits

As of September 2015, we are completely animal-less. We listed our last remaining chickens and meat rabbits on Craigslist for free to the first person who would come get them.

The Reason? This guy…

I have no way of knowing if it was in fact a guy or a girl, but I do know that over the course of 3 separate nights, a Florida Black Bear (quite possibly 2 different bears) came and terrorized my animals eating most of them.

It was around 8 pm the first night the bear came to our property. We heard squealing outside and at first thought it was cats fighting. Brian turned on the outside light, looked out the front door into the side yard and saw the big, BIG ass-end of a black bear running in the opposite direction. The bear rammed into my kids swing set and jumped the chainlink fence denting it badly. With the bear long gone Brian went out and inspected the area. Our rabbit cage was dented and damaged and we presume the bear was attempting to knock it over.

Months later…

The second night the bear came he was much more effective. Late at night while we quietly slept, he killed Cassie, one of our meat rabbits and all of her newborn kits. He also tore into our chicken coop, flushed the chickens out and ate two of them.

Had a visit from a black bear last night. He or she killed two chickens, two rabbits, and four baby rabbits. I did a short video on Periscope about it. #homestead #nature #floridablackbear #periscope #backyardchickens #chickens

A photo posted by Stephanie (@wannabehomesteader) on Sep 22, 2015 at 6:23am PDT

We blame ourselves for the loss of our chickens because we forgot to close the door to the coop that night. If the coop door had been closed he could have pushed the whole thing over if he wanted- he would not have been able to get in because the coop was like a little Fort Knox and fully enclosed on all sides.

Had a visit from a black bear last night. He or she killed two chickens, two rabbits, and four baby rabbits. I did a short video on Periscope about it. #homestead #nature #floridablackbear #periscope #backyardchickens #chickens

A photo posted by Stephanie (@wannabehomesteader) on Sep 22, 2015 at 6:23am PDT

Brian started constructing fortifications for the rabbit hutch but, he didn’t finish it fast enough.

About a week later, the bear came back again. This time he broke into the rabbit hutch and took Buzzy, our buck. The next morning Buzzy was clearly gone but we found no trace of him. My husband loved Buzzy a lot and was tore up over the whole situation. But because Chloe our other doe escaped the attack and hid in the yard, I was optimistic that Buzzy had escaped too.

But it wasn’t so. I discovered my neighbors back wooden fence was broken. I climbed up, looked over and saw the remains of a gray rabbit. It was Buzzy. It appears the bear grabbed Buzzy, climbed over the back fence and ate him on the other side.

We were heart broken and fearing for our remaining does, Big Mama and Chloe, we listed the rabbit hutch and rabbits for free to the first person willing to come get them.

Top Photo Credit: US Forest Service