love or hate?

[pkeeler]

Next time I would try harder to get the hen. Coyotes and fox might not climb, but owls will pick her off and raccoons can climb. For her own good, you can use a big stick to gently knock her down.

 

[KKatknap]

Quote:
VERY cute story!

Also love the "welcome home dance". That's sweet!

 

[Chickiemama1010]

Quote:
I tried to use a stick to knock her down, she held on tight to the gutter,then kept walking up up up. The barn and barn roof is metal, nothing per say to grip with claws and climb, like a raccoon would. That coon would have to be mighty hungry and determined, b/c it would be a heck of a lot of work for it to get up there. It would be so much easier for him to just get into my garbage, lol. No nearby tree to jump from. Its a fairly largs barn, and a fairly steep roof. She had to fly to get there, and frankly I was surprised she could get that high off the ground. My bantams are pretty good flyers, and in fact frequently sit on the roof of the barn to get away from the hen-pecking they get from the bigger ones. but this girl (RSL) is much larger and heavier than the bantams. I have never seen my RSLs fly more than 4-5 feet TOPS off the ground, and thats more like a wing-assisted jump. The barn roof gutter is easily 12'. I had to get an extension ladder to reach her with a stick, the striaght ladder I have is 10' and didnt reach. As far as owls go, I have never seen one in this area, except a screech owl now very seldom. and my hen is bigger than a screech owl herself. There are no trees around to speak of for thousands of acres. That doesnt mean there isnt an owl or 2 in my neighborhood, but I couldnt get her. I worried about her all nite, trust me, and this morning when I went outside and she was no longer on the roof, I was reluctant to walk around the barn, for fear of seeing the pile of feathers left after something nabs a chicken. She heard the door before I saw her and came after me, chattering and grumbling in a tizzy. She was hiding out by my trash bins, and even laid an egg for me on the ground near the bin. It was still warm.

 

[JakRat]

that is the sweetest thing ever!!!!