Last night one of my new hens, one of my winter layers didn’t come in. All night I thought she was picked off by a fox or a hawk. This morning she was the lucky one that averted tragedy.
Accidents Happen
Rural living is an invitation to accidents. Machines don’t work as expected. Wire snaps. Wood or metal beams fall.
Livestock has its share of accidents too. Some end tragically. Some are averted tragedy.
Trapped Goats
As told in “For Love of Goats”, we had a young doe slip down into the crotch of a tree. My companion found her and lifted her out. Otherwise she was trapped, unable to get her hooves on anything to let her push out of the tree.
There was another such incident. This time a doe was stepping over a fallen tree. It had two trunks. The ground was a hillside covered with gravel.
The doe slid down the tree trunk into the crotch and got stuck. When she didn’t come in that evening, I went looking. It took two of us to slide her up out of that trap.
The next morning that upper trunk became firewood.
Trapped Chicken
I have extra water buckets placed upside down along the fence into the goat barn lot. The buckets I’m using sit on top of these, easy to grab to fill at the hand pump.
This morning the bucket had fallen onto the ground. When I picked it up, my lost hen was under it. She was eager to get back in the chicken yard where she promptly grabbed the vole the flock was arguing over.
Avoiding Tragedy
No matter how careful I try to be, accidents happen. Some do end in tragedy. Most do not. There is reason for this.
When my flock goes back in their yard at night, I count them. Three of this kind, three of those, seven of the other, until all are accounted for.
The same is true for the goats. I make sure everyone goes out and everyone comes in.
The chickens are locked up at night. The goats are in their barn.
I much prefer taking precautions to having another averted tragedy tale to tell.
