They eat chickens, don't they?

So it seems that word is out about the chickens. We have lived in our house for four years. I have never seen evidence of anything other than groundhogs, rabbits, hawks, and owls. Once we saw a really dilapidated coyote walk along the tree line in the winter, but never again. Yesterday, there was a huge raccoon that had been hit and killed either just coming or just going from our property. And there have been two possums killed; one in the road and one in the field behind us, I guess from the combine taking down the barley earlier (it had no legs). And my farmer neighbor reported seeing several foxes. Will a raccoon or a possum eat a chicken or are they just after eggs? The dogs freak out and sniff all around the fenced in chicken yard every morning and I check for evidence of tampering along all the chicken wire or digging, but so far nothing. I kind of think I need to worry about raccoons, although I was thrilled to see evidence of them. How do you deter a raccoon? Once the corn is down though, I think these visits will dwindle. There will be simply too much open space (100s of acres of bare field) for them to safely cross to get to our property. It will be interesting to see what is moving around out there after the first snow fall.....all the little tracks.

Things I picked yesterday:

A heart shaped apple.












A bunch of orange zinnias. Definitely worth the price of packet of seeds. Sprinkled in the garden and never bothered with again. Still blooming their hearts out.











And four eggs. I wonder what accounts for the slight variation in color? And who lays what? Occasionally there is a speckled one in there. My favorits is the second one on the left. I sold my first dozen yesterday. Woohoo!