Tag Archives: predators

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, meet a lovely officer.

Yesterday I was standing at the back door with Little Miss bugging the chickens and practicing different chicken calls. All of a sudden I finally got reaction with the “air raid” call. 

Or so I thought. 

Right in front of my eyes, our little chicken theif walks around the corner of the house. 

“A–! What are you doing?!” He looks at me and keeps following the chickens. I think he was in momentary shock. “Get out of here!” The paralysis dissipated and off he went like a shot – or a six year old trudging through knee deep heavy snow. 


I went to the front door, on my way calling for Little Mister to snag my phone. I snagged some shots of A– and his little brother making their departure. 

“I told you we shouldn’t have tried to steal another chicken!” says the little brother who then promptly loses his boot in the snow. 

After they made their return adventure home, Hubster came home for lunch. I finally had the chance to get outside and discovered Beardie, one of our Easter Eggers, was missing. I wasn’t 100% that they had taken her, as there were no tell tale signs and she was a struggler even with us handling her, but I didn’t know if the younger brother’s comment about “another bird” was referring to the last time they’re stole one or today. Hubster and I discussed the issue and decided a course of action. 

I called our local state police barracks and explained the situation, how he’s stolen a bird before, how I spoke to the mother myself last time and was pressed upon that it wouldn’t happen again, and the young age of the kids. The officer I later talked to was just as concerned about making sure the kids got the message now and not later. “Let’s nip this in the bud.”

The little bugger tried lying to the officer, saying they didn’t come down at all. She took a walk behind the house and saw their tracks, took a couple photos to show them, and they quickly admitted that they came down, but claimed they only wanted to pet the chickens. I don’t buy it, and I don’t think the officer did either. She did say, however, that the mom was livid and the two boys were bawling their eyes out. Here’s hoping they learned a lesson. If not, I’m going to just watch and see if Greenleaf and MacGyver do their job.  

As for Beardie, she showed up about an hour after the boys came by. They spooked her enough that she had hidden out in the brush somewhere. 

Alice’s Adventure

Today was a bit….eventful. When I went to check one the flock today I noticed little boy boot prints all over the yard and around the coop. I figure that one the neighboring hellions came by to look at the birds and left. I didn’t see any harm, went inside, and proceeded to make honey cakes for Imbolc with Little Mister. 

While working on our snack, I kept having a nagging feeling. I decide to go back out and investigate. I’m glad I did. The run door was ajar. There were feather prints in the snow indicative of a bird trying to get away. Also, Alice was missing. 

I woke Hubster up from his Norovirus-induced nap and told him someone has stolen one of our older ladies, an Arcuana/Leghorn named Alice. We went outside and tracked down the footprints. Our suspicions were correct: one of the neighboring kids took her.

Just as I was about ready to walk over, the boy’s two older sisters came down the gulley with Alice. Hubster met them down by the stream and apologized. Their six year old brother and four year old brother – only an accomplice – had stolen her and had snuck her up to their attic. 

After the girls went home, we checked Al out. She was none the worse for wear and we treated her to some left over eggs, loved on her, and put her back with the rest of the flock. Once she was settled in, I walked to the house where the kiddos lived. I thanked their mother for sending the girls over with Al. The little boy tried his damndest to plead with me. (He “only wanted a pet” and could I give him “one with a cage to keep it in?”) I’m hoping that by taking the step to go over there and show a thankful, positive front the little shitter won’t try it again. 

If he does I wouldn’t be too broken hearted if a rooster handed the kid his ass. 

Raptors

As gorgeous as raptors can be, I would appreciate it if the pair of goshawks flying overhead would bugger off. I have one hen held up under the coop who won’t come out. She left a pile of feathers where the hawk almost snagged her. Snow is a five year old Easter Egger and she’s lived through a lot, but I’d feel better if I could check her out. 

On the plus side, the two Roos worked well together to keep the ladies safe. 

Our little visitor.

IMG_2459Long story short: still no fox, but we had this little guy who was the nicest skunk I’ve ever met. He didn’t spray me once while I was uncovering the cage of all the hay and sticks we had hidden it with or while I was trying to open the thing. He made a mess of the cage digging up underneath it trying to get out though. Needless to say, he was very happy to be “living free and in the wild.”