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A booger from the woods comes to get Lily

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Lily, who is about nine months old now, has played outside and practiced her tree-climbing since she was a kitten. Her practice paid off this morning. A dog got her up a tree. I heard barking and ran outside with the broom. A nondescript dog I’d never seen before was bouncing around the tree, and Lily was about 20 feet up a slender, bent pine tree, holding on for dear life. I chased the dog off and made poor Lily wait while I got the camera to record her humiliation. I was afraid she’d be afraid to climb down, but she made a very well-controlled descent, first head-first, then tail first, and came to me with her fur ruffled to be petted.

I’ve always told her that there are boogers in the woods, but she doesn’t need to be told. She hears the boogers all the time, though this is the first time one ever came to get her.

Now I’m rethinking letting my chickens roam free. My new chicken house will be ready as early as next week, and I was hoping to get biddies in early April.

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Safely down

4 Comments

  1. trailshome wrote:

    As an old chicken raiser myself, I’d advise against letting chickens run free in the woods. There are lots of boogers out there to take them. In my area in Northern Indiana, I’ve lost chickens to the neighbor’s dogs, and once they get the taste of chicken, there’s just no way to discourage them from continuing to chase those fascinating, flapping chickens. They were the worst, but we’ve also lost chickens to hawks, owls, weasels and some kind of big cat, like a bobcat.

    The best thing you can do is create a secure, varment proof chicken house and wire run with a top for them, and occasionally let them out to scratch in the early evening while you’re there to keep a protective eye on them. Once it starts to get dark, they’ll be happy to go back inside for the night and it’s even easier if you scatter a little bit of corn to lure them back inside.

    Another clever idea is an old Mother Earth News Idea. Build a portable, narrow, bottomless cage on wheels that you can move around the areas of your garden. Put the chickens into it for a day or two at a time and let them loosen the soil and debug your gardens, a small patch at a time and they’ll be happy and you’ll have a healthier garden for it.

    There’s nothing like those delicious, freshly gathered eggs for breakfast too. They look and taste so much better than store-bought, anytime.

    Friday, March 13, 2009 at 8:53 am | Permalink
  2. Quetal wrote:

    Hi,

    What is “biddies”?

    Nothing better than farm fresh eggs – yolk so thick. Sorry Lily had to go up that tree.

    Henry

    Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 7:25 pm | Permalink
  3. Rebecca wrote:

    Time to get a dog….companion, protector and early warning system that doesn’t need a battery backup! Poor wee Lily.

    “Biddies”, at least where I come from, are hens – kind of like calling cats, kitties.

    Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at 7:36 pm | Permalink
  4. admin wrote:

    Around here, “biddies” refers only to freshly hatched chicks, and never to grown chikkins. Funny how usage varies, isn’t it…

    Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 8:42 pm | Permalink

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