The unspoken dangers of pets

[Violanna]

I have so many stories of keeping a variety of pets. I’m sure you all do too! Since I have a good one today I’ll start and I’d love to hear yours!

So today I get up at 7am as usual. Get myself dressed I even put socks and shoes on which I never do in the mornings! So overall I’m feeling good about myself and ready to start the day! First order of business, open Facebook and start scrolling through random motivational posts as I go out to let the chickens and ducks out of their coops!

Well I open the back door and go to take the 8inch step down off my back porch, and I miss the step! My ankle rolls sideways and I land on it HARD! I stand there stunned for a moment tears on my cheeks and cursing the birds who heard the door and are now SCREAMING ‘Mom! Let us out now!!’ I test the ankle and can put some weight on it and quickly hobble to the coops open them and rush to my bed to sit back down. All other animals have been completely forgotten! At this point I’m thinking ‘oh I walked on it no big deal I’m ok just need 5 mins rest then back to my day.

5 mins come and go and I now have tears pouring down my face, adrenaline has worn off and I’m calling my husband home from work. We’ll long story short it’s luckily not a break, just a severe sprain and I’m in a boot for 2 weeks. Which I is HOT and miserable I might add! These birds better know how loved they are!

There’s my story! Share yours and help cheer me up!

 

[Brooks_]

Get well soon.

 

[-Shade-]

I have been on all sorts of wild goose chases for my EE girls who are always flying the coop. One of my worst ones was when I was heading out to lock up my girls, my CB (Cross beak) hen Bella, wasn't in her usual spot on the nest boxes. This was the third night in a row she wasn't in the coop, and I was beginning to worry she was choosing not to sleep in the coop from then on. I wandered around my yard for over an hour checking all the spots where chickens usually hid after they escaped and I couldn't find her. It was almost 9:00 o'clock at night in the winter, and the sun had been down for hours. My family decided to go ahead and eat dinner without me, which though it only frustrated me further, I refused to give up my search. Eventually, I started to get tired and decided to finish putting away my other animals. I had just dropped off my third and final cat at the garage and walked in to check on their food and water. As soon as I made it through the door, I heard an annoyed and very familiar chicken grunt, and the motion light came on.

I wandered around outside in the cold and dark for 2 hours, to find a chicken that was perched on a bike handle in my garage the whole time.

 

[Tired old Rooster]

As a rule, you will have fewer accidents if you leave your phone inside while tending the animals. Human vision was not made for reading a screen while negotiating stairs.

Now moving on, my day was quite simple. Got up at seven, opened the ramp to let the chooks out. Started some metal work and ducked off with my gear in a hurry when it started raining. Weather trashed my plans. Highlight of the day was when the neighbors cat came over to kill another chicken and got chased all the way home by my furious dog.