Lee the chicken, Safety and the Snake

in homesteading •  7 years ago  (edited)

I started to relay this story on the new Homesteading channel on Slack but during this time, as had been happening all day, the internet kept cutting off so I was not able to finish answering questions. This added to my frustrations about continuing internet connection problems that had been happening almost since the very day I started on Steemit.

I won't tell the whole story of Lee, the lonely chicken, but highlights are that she was one of three chickens that we raised from their first day last spring. During the winter her two sisters were senselessly killed by two stray hunting dogs and left for us to bury. Their names were Brightly and Victoria, named by my grandson when they were but 3 weeks old. He thought a bit and named the light colored one Brightly. She was my favorite because when I lowered the side of the incubator to feed and water them Brightly would jump up onto the edge of the box and look around the room curiously. Her sisters were named Lee and Victoria.

Lee was now left alone with us and became my companion, sitting by the front door, following me around the yard and squatting down whenever I came outside so I could massage her neck and rub her down to her tail until she fluttered and spread her feathers. She never used the chicken house except as a place to peck at layer feed.

Lonely Lee had been a real clever and pesty chicken in the newly planted spring garden and she hadn't laid any eggs since Easter...that we could find anyway. I put her in the coop with the door closed except to the tiny run that connects to the door.

She started laying eggs! Or I should say we started finding her eggs.

Maybe something had been eating her eggs all this time? But at the least the newly planted seeds in the garden were safe.


When spring finally came this year we picked up three new day old chicks

 

When they were almost six weeks old it was warm out and their feathers were coming in so I moved them out to the coop.

Lee was allowed to free range again and spend the night on her "roosting bar" on a high ledge that held the furnace pipe securely to the back of the house.


Three days later a fox broke into the chicken house through a loose floorboard in one of the nesting boxes and devoured all but the heads and feet of all three chicks.

We cleaned out the coop, fixed the floorboard and put Lee back inside to protect her and our garden. But...she was able to fly over the fence and free range again. A different stray dog came up a steep wooded path onto our very private 29 acres to the cleared space where we live and have a garden and orchards. Lee managed to run away and hide somewhere while I yelled and waved my arms to scare the dog off. She reappeared later that day damaged and subdued, but alive.

Now she is permanently living in the coop, safe from predators and allowed a small run that is enclosed by fencing. Her good wing has been clipped (thanks to @goatgarden for his good advice and video). She was safe in my mind but I continued to check on her often, bringing treats and having conversations. She seemed to understand what I was saying so it was quite companionable. I don't speak chicken but am hoping that @mother2chicks will write an article about it. She does seem to be able to communicate with all kinds of animals.

Internal predators!

Yesterday I heard a strange noise from Lee so I went over to the coop and looked inside. There was a big multicolored snake, a kind I did not recognize, just near the little door out to the run. Lee was pacing back and forth, wary of this creature who was blocking her way outside. I considered just reaching in to quickly take it out but thought better of that. I yelled to my husband for HELP and he came over with a shovel and reached in and tried to pick the snake up but it just snaked off. He managed to nudge it out the door. The snake stayed on the ramp for a few seconds and then slithered under it to the very spot where Lee has made an indentation to lay her daily egg.

---

Anyway, back to the Slack conversation to answer their questions:

The snake had been just sitting near the door to the run but there were no eggs in there to eat. That is just where the snake ended up going after it was chased out of the coop. Then it must have gone way underground because there is wire netting that goes a foot deep all around that area. It must have come up by this same route and climbed the ramp to get inside. I put a golf ball in the coop because I read that the snake will eat it and it is indigestible. I do know that snakes are good for gardens but this one I did not recognize and I am so wary now of any harm befalling my last chicken - until next year.

I only have a point and shoot camera so I didn't have it with me to get a picture of the situation and the snake. I wanted to first take care of getting the snake out of the coop. I have been checking all day and have not seen it again. Poor Lee. She is having such a hard life

Back to the end of the Slack conversation:

The bot is saying I am offline. I will wait until the internet comes back on to send this. It is just too frustrating. A tech is going to come out again on Monday because this problem has been going on for weeks now. Then I think I will call it a night. :zzz: Ha I just used the smiley face thing. That's kind of fun!


Can you guess that the chick in my name is about chickens and not my age?

Quickly sending this off before another internet down...
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Poor Lee, sometimes her life sounds like mine-one thing after another.

You are a good chicken mom and you have a sweet heart. Snakes are difficult to get rid of, very determined to get the eggs. Short of killing them, I don't know how to get rid of them. There are many Wrens and Bluebirds here who have had their eggs and newborns eaten by snakes. I did have 3 baby Wrens fledge which was a first. 🐓

Hang in there and give my love to Lee and thanks for the mention (working on your request and another post-I am slow).

Love my chickens!

Thanks Mr. Masterpiece. I thank you so much!

What a challenge it can be! Good onya for trying to protect Lee! I win and lose with my chickens but I feel a better connection with life than before breeding.

Wow! That is so true. I never would have put it into those words but it is so true. This may be the root of the attraction of caring for chickens and other animals: connection with life

Thanks for the insight.

I feel so bad for Lee with everything she has been through. A snake! OMG! That was a great idea about the golf ball. I sure hope that the snake stays away but if it comes back, it better leave Lee alone and it better eat that golf ball! Stay safe Lee! :)

We both have been looking throughout the day but have seen no sign of it so far.
It just makes her so much more precious because we have lost so many.

Golf ball idea came from the internet and it seemed the most expedient thing to do. I know snakes can do good things for the garden but this one?

I hope you don't see that snake ever again!

Today I saw a groundhog in her run! Oh that poor chick!

Poor Lee! She just can't get a break! Shoo snake. shoo groundhog!

Thanks. I needed that help. She is exhausting me.

We have a Havahart trap set up for the groundhog(s) but no one is taking the bait yet...some very ripe fragrant cantaloupe. Maybe you could exert your magical powers and lure them in.

Here comes my magical powers...Zip..Zap..In the trap you go! Sure hope this helps...haha. Really, I do wish you success because poor Lee has had enough!

Thanks. When my husband gets home i will have him take this pesty groundhog to the state forest.

and MANY thanks from the beleaguered Lee.

Poor Lee! She sounds like a survivor though and a tough chicken. I'm glad you've been able to protect Lee so far. Nature is so unpredictable. My cats have killed off all the mice in the forest around my house so we never see snakes anymore. I'm glad. We're talking about getting chickens next year. My biggest fear is nature (raccoons, snakes, etc.)

I think I glimpsed a conversation from you about living on a hill side surrounded by woods. The internet cut off then so I lost the conversation but that is just what we have here.

We have lost all of our free ranging chickens so far to various kinds of predators. I sadly gave in and locked Lee in her house and small run only to find this snake, an internal predator.
Today I heard her squawking and went out to find a groundhog standing up in the corner of her run. It was, no doubt, only interested in the surrounding gardens but it sure did scare Lee.
Sometimes she just makes a lot of noise because she has trained me to come out and check on her and bring snacks but she does have a distinctive squawk when she is in danger or afraid.

Our KittyKate protects us from all kinds of rodents. The day I found the snake she sat on top of the outside of the nesting box for a while, preying.

Even though I think our chicken house is secure when you get one make sure it is very secure with a long covered run.
I have loved all my chickens and plan to get more next spring but there is so much danger living in an isolated place.