'Tis the Season

Since warmer weather is here, our thoughts turn to dealing with the local wildlife.

One pesky visitor has been a squirrel. The nice lady saw it one day eating out of our feeder. Needless to say, she wasn't very happy. She had been wondering why we hens were eating so much feed. I tried to tell her that it wasn't us, but she couldn't understand me. I don't know what happened to that squirrel. I heard a loud boom one day, and I haven't seen it since.




We think we had a raccoon come visit one night, but thankfully, there were no casualties. The pen was sure in a mess the next day, and all of our feed had been eaten. The only evidence found was this set of footprints. I'm pretty sure that raccoon was around here during the fall and winter, too. Raccoons are a year round worry for us chickens.

Black snakes haven't been in our house to eat our eggs. Thank goodness. I think it's because our house sits high up off the ground. I know they're around because I saw Ebony eat a little one the other day. The nice lady is sure careful when she reaches into our house to gather the eggs. I'm afraid we'd have to figure out how to call 911 if she ever grabbed a snake instead of an egg.




A scary snake that hasn't been seen yet this year is the timber rattler. Sometimes it's called a velvet tail rattler. Either name gives me chills.



Last year, the nice lady shot a rattler as it was crawling through our pen! I wasn't living here then, but I was told she shot its head clean off. What a shot! She didn't take pictures of that one, but she kept the rattle. She is hoping that I will be a good luck charm and maybe there won't be any rattlers around here this year. I have my toes crossed for her.