farmcraftpunk
Chirping
- Mar 8, 2023
- 19
- 61
- 54
I decided I would share a little story about something that happened to us recently. It's a little funny, a bid sad, and in the end all is well here in the Urban Farm yard. More than anything the story is UNBELIVEABLE but true.
All typos are hereditary, apologies in advance.
On April 3rd we had two hens go missing from our coop, Smokey(OE) and Lorp (australorp). That ,morning when I went outside we found the clean out door to what we call “old coop” wide open. This is where at least 4/5ths of the chickens roost at night. I had closed that door the night before after pulling one of our younger hens out for someone who wanted to buy her. The door sticks and can be hard to get shut properly unless you know the trick and you can’t latch it unless it is fully shut. I made sure it was fully shut and latched.
A few of the birds that we had introduced on Saturday had escaped and while we were herding them back in I missed noticing that Smokey and Lorp were missing. That night after I closed the coop doors it set in that I hadn’t gotten one of Smokey’s Eggs, and come to think of it I hadn’t had to keep Lorp from running out the door while I was coming in… So I went back out to check for them. They were gone. I proceeded to look all over our property, under the neighbors bushes, down the ally. I have had birds that strayed from our yard before but Lorp and Smokey are reliable to stay in the property boundaries and usually are sitting by the door ready to be let in for a drink. They also hadn’t escaped from the run since the bird netting went up. Looking around and finding no trace, not even a puff of feathers I returned inside to get Sam to help me look. We couldn’t find them. I posted this post on Omaha Chicken Talk.
“Today I woke up to the door to our coop open and two of our hens missing. No sign of predators, and now I am wondering if someone stole them....”
Several people let me know that they thought it was predators, most likely a raccoon. Almost no one supported my worry that a human was responsible for their abduction.
Our neighbor Caryn let me know that she had went out looking for them with a head lamp with no luck. (For those who don’t know Caryn is a delightful neighbor and fellow chicken lady!) We were sad and very watchful for the next few days, a padlock was placed on that door. Raccoons are notoriously bad at guessing 4 digit combinations.
On the 7th I had had enough with constantly cleaning out the chick's water downstairs, and I had to admit that calling them chicks was a stretch anymore. Their feathers had come in nicely and they were trying to roost so I moved them out to big coop where they were mostly ignored by the big chickens who were settling their own flock rankings. Over the next few days the chick learned that they could fit between the slats of the fence and would hop right out the moment I put them back in. They were reliably staying under the tree and within 3 ft of the coop though so I decided that if I was out in the garden working they would be fine.
On Sunday the 9th I had spent most of the day in the garden or coop working. Spring crops were almost all planted out. Tes had promised to bring cheesecake over if we wanted to play board games, so I went in to eat the dinner Sam was making. Reasoning that the chicks would be fine in their little hide out under the tree and behind the feed containers. I would just go out as soon as the sun started to set (in about 45 min) and scoop them up into the coop as the rest of the birds were settling down so I could close the coop doors. Tes arrived, we had our cheesecake and I went outside to put the chicks away. Two of them were missing and the remaining two were searching everywhere despite the sun going down and the rest of the flock having gone to bed. Their frantic peeping broke my heart, and I was amazed at their bravery of searching through the falling dark especially if a predator had snatched their little sisters. Once again no feathers, no trace. I felt it was safe to assume we were dealing with a very crafty raccoon or another predator. I still posted to all the local lost pet pages as I had done with the hens before them and once again posted to Omaha Chicken Talk. Despite being reassured that this sounded like a Raccoon I couldn’t help but feel deep down that someone was taking my birds. I didn’t mention it again to most people because I was starting to feel paranoid myself. What were the odds that someone would take birds from me twice?
Jump to the evening of the 11th, a security camera has been ordered, the clean out door locked, the latches outfitted with double locking carabiners to prevent them being opened by raccoons. I had considered a water spraying deterrent device that you hook to your hose. After reading the specs on it though I determined we would be spraying every car, biker and walker that went down our street. I felt that opening a carwash was probably an extreme solution. After a long day I am ready to collapse on the couch and watch some Netflix. An evening of self care was in order. I pause my show and go to use the restroom. As I am washing my hands I hear Sam shout, “Sydney, is there supposed to be a child in the coop?”
“No, I am in the bathroom. Can you see what’s up?” I answered wondering who was in the coop, not one of the kids who lives on the street, they would have knocked and asked to pet the chickens or retrieve a ball ect.
I quickly finish up, grab my shoes and head outside where Sam is standing with a boy about 10 years old. This kid is barefoot, shirtless and in shorts. Sam is telling him that he really shouldn’t go into the run barefoot, it's a good way to get worms or get pecked. He gets the hose to help the boy wash off his feet. I interrupt with, “So what’s going on?”
The kid starts saying that he is “looking for his little baby chicken who got out and flew into our coop!”
“What color is she?”
“White.”
I look dauntedly at the 12 white chickens in the run.
“My mom paid a lot of money for her! I am really worried!” the kid seems panicked.
“Ok, its ok I’ll help you look, let me count the birds. I only see 12 white birds, that's the number we have. What color are her legs?”
“Uhhh, I think it's the same color as that bird there, she looks like that one!”
Weird, these birds are American Bresse, not a common bird at all, in fact I had driven to Kansas to pick these up. Leghorns are white but have yellow legs, and Easter Eggers have blue legs but they don’t look like American Bress, even the white ones.
“Ok I’ll help you look around the yard and down the street.” Sam and I start helping the kid look. My mind is playing over what this bird must look like as we look.
“How big is she?” Sam asks?
Kid holds up his hands to indicate an adult size bird, “We call her Bella.”
“Ok well she isn't in our run anymore… Is your Mom or another adult home?”
“No, just me and my cousin.”
“Ok do you live close? Can you point out the house so that if we find her we know where to bring her?”
“Yeah it’s that house right there, the gray one.” He points out the house as we walk towards it. It’s only two doors down across the street. On the other side of the neighbors whose boys watch our chickens when we are out of town. Weird I thought I knew all the chicken people around here, strange? A little voice in the back of my head is saying something is wrong, but I can’t place exactly what. Kid is getting squirrelyer by the second.
“I left my shoes at my friends house, I'm going to go get them.” The kid runs back across the street and grabs a bike from the neighbors yard.
“Ok we will keep looking for her, maybe she went back to your yard.” I say, now that I know where the house is I can stop by when an adult is home and let them know what happened. This kid gets on his bike and books it up the street and out of sight. My mind is screaming, something doesn't add up, you should have walked this kid to get his shoes and back. It’s weird that you haven’t noticed him around if he lives so close! After a few minutes of waiting Jennifer and her son Mason show up (they live right next to the gray house). I decide to ask them if they know the boy or his parents. There is some confusion as I describe the boy to be around Masons age. This is when I get the news, no boy that age lives in that house. Their neighbors' kids are all grown up. In fact they don't know another kid that age close except for Charlie. I know Charlie and his mom, this kid was not him. It is getting more and more clear why my intuition was sending alarm signals. Even more clear that this kid wasn't coming back.
I decided to take the car and just drive around the area. There was a pause for consideration… Do you really want to be the adult woman hunting down a 10 year old kid? I decided that if I saw him I could just ask if he had a phone number for a parent so I could talk to an adult. About three blocks away I see him circling his bike with some other kids in the driveway. So I stop and get out of the car. He stops his bike, face blank.
" Hey, I forgot to ask for a phone number, so if I find your chicken I can bring her back to you."
"Uh actually… I uhh…. can't remember a phone number…" the kid is literally squirming.
"Ok because the neighbors in the white house told me that there aren't any kids that live in the grey house that you told us was yours."
"Ummm yeah I forgot, I… well… we used to stay there sometimes but we don't live there anymore. I live in that house." Pointing to the corner across the street.
"Ok, I think we need to walk over there and you need to see if an adult is home so I can talk to them." I dropped the nice helpful tone from my voice. This kid has been was caught in my coop trying to grab a chicken that 'he thought was his baby chicken!'.
A lot of things are not adding up…
"Uhhh sure."
We walk over to the house and he goes inside. I figure I am just going to wait here until an adult is produced for me to talk to.
Out come the kid with grandma. I explain what happened earlier. That the kid was in our chicken run. That we looked for his white chicken, and wanted to know where to return it if we found it.
"White chicken?" She looks confused.
"Yeah grandma, the white chicken I found…"
"Sorry, I have been in the hospital till yesterday. He found some chickens wandering loose last week and two chicks yesterday."
"OH? Wow, that really strange we had four chickens go missing recently two hens and two chicks. We have been looking for them too, so I understand what it feels like to lose a bird."
Grandma looks at me funny. "You're missing two hens and two chicks?"
"Yeah, I have pictures of the but it's a big black hen and a grey hen with a brownish gold head. The two chicks are pretty little still one kind of looks like…" I see the kids eyes dart from me to Grandma.
"Wait, do they look like these. Go open the shed."
She points to a little shed the size of an outhouse behind me. I turn around as the kid opens the door. The inside of the shed is dark, only the light from the doorway. Although it is unmistakable who I see inside. Little Robin and Po the chicks and further in Smokey and Lorp on roosting bars.
"Girls!" I am genuinely surprised that I am seeing my birds again, and that they are safe. I feel like this is a dream, what are the chances? Oh yeah, this kid has "found," all of them. I guess the chances are pretty good then.
"They are yours? He found them wandering in the street right here and the chick in the alley. We kept them because there are a lot of stray dogs and things around."
"Yes they are mine," I'm trying to decide if I just accuse this kid of lying. His face is looking blank again. He knows he has been caught. He is letting Grandma do all the talking now.
I call Sam and ask him to bring a carrier to take them home.
She proceeds to explain what a good kid and an animal lover he is while I wait for Sam. I kind of just nod along. I don't want to make anyone mad I just want my birds back. I default to crisis management mode, neutral face, a lot of "oh, really?" "Wow that's unbelievable." As I try to gently put the pieces of the puzzle in front of her and nudge them into a picture of what has happened.
Sam gets there and we load up the birds. I offer to bring her a dozen eggs for caring for them, can I reimburse them for anything? She tells me know ow it was just the neighborly thing to do. I get into the car Lorp in my lap.
"That kid has been stealing our chickens." Sam says, more of a statement than a question.
I fill him in. I call Caryn and her family comes over to hear the story. I call my Mom.
"I have an unbelievable story for you, it's really UNBELIEVABLE."
Later that night after birds and people go to bed, I ask Sam.
"How many do you think he would have taken if he hadn't been caught?"
All typos are hereditary, apologies in advance.
On April 3rd we had two hens go missing from our coop, Smokey(OE) and Lorp (australorp). That ,morning when I went outside we found the clean out door to what we call “old coop” wide open. This is where at least 4/5ths of the chickens roost at night. I had closed that door the night before after pulling one of our younger hens out for someone who wanted to buy her. The door sticks and can be hard to get shut properly unless you know the trick and you can’t latch it unless it is fully shut. I made sure it was fully shut and latched.
A few of the birds that we had introduced on Saturday had escaped and while we were herding them back in I missed noticing that Smokey and Lorp were missing. That night after I closed the coop doors it set in that I hadn’t gotten one of Smokey’s Eggs, and come to think of it I hadn’t had to keep Lorp from running out the door while I was coming in… So I went back out to check for them. They were gone. I proceeded to look all over our property, under the neighbors bushes, down the ally. I have had birds that strayed from our yard before but Lorp and Smokey are reliable to stay in the property boundaries and usually are sitting by the door ready to be let in for a drink. They also hadn’t escaped from the run since the bird netting went up. Looking around and finding no trace, not even a puff of feathers I returned inside to get Sam to help me look. We couldn’t find them. I posted this post on Omaha Chicken Talk.
“Today I woke up to the door to our coop open and two of our hens missing. No sign of predators, and now I am wondering if someone stole them....”
Several people let me know that they thought it was predators, most likely a raccoon. Almost no one supported my worry that a human was responsible for their abduction.
Our neighbor Caryn let me know that she had went out looking for them with a head lamp with no luck. (For those who don’t know Caryn is a delightful neighbor and fellow chicken lady!) We were sad and very watchful for the next few days, a padlock was placed on that door. Raccoons are notoriously bad at guessing 4 digit combinations.
On the 7th I had had enough with constantly cleaning out the chick's water downstairs, and I had to admit that calling them chicks was a stretch anymore. Their feathers had come in nicely and they were trying to roost so I moved them out to big coop where they were mostly ignored by the big chickens who were settling their own flock rankings. Over the next few days the chick learned that they could fit between the slats of the fence and would hop right out the moment I put them back in. They were reliably staying under the tree and within 3 ft of the coop though so I decided that if I was out in the garden working they would be fine.
On Sunday the 9th I had spent most of the day in the garden or coop working. Spring crops were almost all planted out. Tes had promised to bring cheesecake over if we wanted to play board games, so I went in to eat the dinner Sam was making. Reasoning that the chicks would be fine in their little hide out under the tree and behind the feed containers. I would just go out as soon as the sun started to set (in about 45 min) and scoop them up into the coop as the rest of the birds were settling down so I could close the coop doors. Tes arrived, we had our cheesecake and I went outside to put the chicks away. Two of them were missing and the remaining two were searching everywhere despite the sun going down and the rest of the flock having gone to bed. Their frantic peeping broke my heart, and I was amazed at their bravery of searching through the falling dark especially if a predator had snatched their little sisters. Once again no feathers, no trace. I felt it was safe to assume we were dealing with a very crafty raccoon or another predator. I still posted to all the local lost pet pages as I had done with the hens before them and once again posted to Omaha Chicken Talk. Despite being reassured that this sounded like a Raccoon I couldn’t help but feel deep down that someone was taking my birds. I didn’t mention it again to most people because I was starting to feel paranoid myself. What were the odds that someone would take birds from me twice?
Jump to the evening of the 11th, a security camera has been ordered, the clean out door locked, the latches outfitted with double locking carabiners to prevent them being opened by raccoons. I had considered a water spraying deterrent device that you hook to your hose. After reading the specs on it though I determined we would be spraying every car, biker and walker that went down our street. I felt that opening a carwash was probably an extreme solution. After a long day I am ready to collapse on the couch and watch some Netflix. An evening of self care was in order. I pause my show and go to use the restroom. As I am washing my hands I hear Sam shout, “Sydney, is there supposed to be a child in the coop?”
“No, I am in the bathroom. Can you see what’s up?” I answered wondering who was in the coop, not one of the kids who lives on the street, they would have knocked and asked to pet the chickens or retrieve a ball ect.
I quickly finish up, grab my shoes and head outside where Sam is standing with a boy about 10 years old. This kid is barefoot, shirtless and in shorts. Sam is telling him that he really shouldn’t go into the run barefoot, it's a good way to get worms or get pecked. He gets the hose to help the boy wash off his feet. I interrupt with, “So what’s going on?”
The kid starts saying that he is “looking for his little baby chicken who got out and flew into our coop!”
“What color is she?”
“White.”
I look dauntedly at the 12 white chickens in the run.
“My mom paid a lot of money for her! I am really worried!” the kid seems panicked.
“Ok, its ok I’ll help you look, let me count the birds. I only see 12 white birds, that's the number we have. What color are her legs?”
“Uhhh, I think it's the same color as that bird there, she looks like that one!”
Weird, these birds are American Bresse, not a common bird at all, in fact I had driven to Kansas to pick these up. Leghorns are white but have yellow legs, and Easter Eggers have blue legs but they don’t look like American Bress, even the white ones.
“Ok I’ll help you look around the yard and down the street.” Sam and I start helping the kid look. My mind is playing over what this bird must look like as we look.
“How big is she?” Sam asks?
Kid holds up his hands to indicate an adult size bird, “We call her Bella.”
“Ok well she isn't in our run anymore… Is your Mom or another adult home?”
“No, just me and my cousin.”
“Ok do you live close? Can you point out the house so that if we find her we know where to bring her?”
“Yeah it’s that house right there, the gray one.” He points out the house as we walk towards it. It’s only two doors down across the street. On the other side of the neighbors whose boys watch our chickens when we are out of town. Weird I thought I knew all the chicken people around here, strange? A little voice in the back of my head is saying something is wrong, but I can’t place exactly what. Kid is getting squirrelyer by the second.
“I left my shoes at my friends house, I'm going to go get them.” The kid runs back across the street and grabs a bike from the neighbors yard.
“Ok we will keep looking for her, maybe she went back to your yard.” I say, now that I know where the house is I can stop by when an adult is home and let them know what happened. This kid gets on his bike and books it up the street and out of sight. My mind is screaming, something doesn't add up, you should have walked this kid to get his shoes and back. It’s weird that you haven’t noticed him around if he lives so close! After a few minutes of waiting Jennifer and her son Mason show up (they live right next to the gray house). I decide to ask them if they know the boy or his parents. There is some confusion as I describe the boy to be around Masons age. This is when I get the news, no boy that age lives in that house. Their neighbors' kids are all grown up. In fact they don't know another kid that age close except for Charlie. I know Charlie and his mom, this kid was not him. It is getting more and more clear why my intuition was sending alarm signals. Even more clear that this kid wasn't coming back.
I decided to take the car and just drive around the area. There was a pause for consideration… Do you really want to be the adult woman hunting down a 10 year old kid? I decided that if I saw him I could just ask if he had a phone number for a parent so I could talk to an adult. About three blocks away I see him circling his bike with some other kids in the driveway. So I stop and get out of the car. He stops his bike, face blank.
" Hey, I forgot to ask for a phone number, so if I find your chicken I can bring her back to you."
"Uh actually… I uhh…. can't remember a phone number…" the kid is literally squirming.
"Ok because the neighbors in the white house told me that there aren't any kids that live in the grey house that you told us was yours."
"Ummm yeah I forgot, I… well… we used to stay there sometimes but we don't live there anymore. I live in that house." Pointing to the corner across the street.
"Ok, I think we need to walk over there and you need to see if an adult is home so I can talk to them." I dropped the nice helpful tone from my voice. This kid has been was caught in my coop trying to grab a chicken that 'he thought was his baby chicken!'.
A lot of things are not adding up…
"Uhhh sure."
We walk over to the house and he goes inside. I figure I am just going to wait here until an adult is produced for me to talk to.
Out come the kid with grandma. I explain what happened earlier. That the kid was in our chicken run. That we looked for his white chicken, and wanted to know where to return it if we found it.
"White chicken?" She looks confused.
"Yeah grandma, the white chicken I found…"
"Sorry, I have been in the hospital till yesterday. He found some chickens wandering loose last week and two chicks yesterday."
"OH? Wow, that really strange we had four chickens go missing recently two hens and two chicks. We have been looking for them too, so I understand what it feels like to lose a bird."
Grandma looks at me funny. "You're missing two hens and two chicks?"
"Yeah, I have pictures of the but it's a big black hen and a grey hen with a brownish gold head. The two chicks are pretty little still one kind of looks like…" I see the kids eyes dart from me to Grandma.
"Wait, do they look like these. Go open the shed."
She points to a little shed the size of an outhouse behind me. I turn around as the kid opens the door. The inside of the shed is dark, only the light from the doorway. Although it is unmistakable who I see inside. Little Robin and Po the chicks and further in Smokey and Lorp on roosting bars.
"Girls!" I am genuinely surprised that I am seeing my birds again, and that they are safe. I feel like this is a dream, what are the chances? Oh yeah, this kid has "found," all of them. I guess the chances are pretty good then.
"They are yours? He found them wandering in the street right here and the chick in the alley. We kept them because there are a lot of stray dogs and things around."
"Yes they are mine," I'm trying to decide if I just accuse this kid of lying. His face is looking blank again. He knows he has been caught. He is letting Grandma do all the talking now.
I call Sam and ask him to bring a carrier to take them home.
She proceeds to explain what a good kid and an animal lover he is while I wait for Sam. I kind of just nod along. I don't want to make anyone mad I just want my birds back. I default to crisis management mode, neutral face, a lot of "oh, really?" "Wow that's unbelievable." As I try to gently put the pieces of the puzzle in front of her and nudge them into a picture of what has happened.
Sam gets there and we load up the birds. I offer to bring her a dozen eggs for caring for them, can I reimburse them for anything? She tells me know ow it was just the neighborly thing to do. I get into the car Lorp in my lap.
"That kid has been stealing our chickens." Sam says, more of a statement than a question.
I fill him in. I call Caryn and her family comes over to hear the story. I call my Mom.
"I have an unbelievable story for you, it's really UNBELIEVABLE."
Later that night after birds and people go to bed, I ask Sam.
"How many do you think he would have taken if he hadn't been caught?"
