To set the scene: the temp coop (which is being replaced tonight with the real coop, YEAH! once I find where my dh put the camera I'll post pics) is about 50 ft. from our bedroom, and we sleep with the window open (I love the soft night noises of living in the country).
Last night I wake up to hear Parvati (our brahma crossed w/ god only knows what hen
) talking, loudly.. She didn't sound panicked, but she is usually really quiet. And she is particularly not prone to being loud enough to wake me up at 2:30 in the morning (Shiva sometimes, but never Parvati)! I'm up in a heartbeat, and go to the backdoor to turn on the flood lights (this was a reminder, need to get new lights for the flood light with the switch in our bedroom) and I can't see anything, just the western slope of the yard and the trees, then my husband calls for the "big" flashlight and when I bring it over, and from the different angle in our bedroom? Two blue green eyes flash back at us.
Based on the body movement it was either a cat or a very young bobcat (the body shape was just a tiny bit weird for a standard domestic (if not domesticated) cat). It doesn't move, the light doesn't scare it, we don't scare it..
So in a fit of NOT bloody thinking (seriously this was a dumb move on my part *laughs*) I throw on my boots and stride across the yard (all 5'4" 125# of me) my hair sticking up in every direction hollering at the cat "Let me make this clear, these guys are NOT food." No stick in my hand, NOTHING. If this had not been a cat (or had been rabid) I could really have gotten hurt.. But in the moment I didn't care, my feathered babies were at risk and I was going to protect them... Thankfully the kitty was perfectly normal and ran away at the horrifying vision walking towards it. Of course, it took me two and a half hours to fall back to sleep (wheee adrenaline), but.. I woke up to my Shiva crowing (albeit a little later than usual, I think he was tired too after all the excitement, and I know I heard some quieter calmer noises coming from their coop for a while, so I know they didn't go RIGHT back to sleep either) and it was never so sweet sounding.
(I can't wait until the real coop is out, I have minimal fears about anything getting into it (save a bear which is going to get into pretty much whatever it wants, or a human, and well, I can't do much about other creatures with opposable thumbs). I am not so confident about the temp coop.)
So yeah.. We had our first run in with predators, and thankfully came out lucky. Though I do think next time I want to make sure I grab a stick, or something! Or even better, get the pellet gun (for cats anyway, 'coons and the like get the 22.. Ya' know, I wasn't thrilled when my husband bought that 22 into the house. Now? I'm *glad* we have it, because if anything goes after my birds while I'm home? Yeah, no more critter.)
Last night I wake up to hear Parvati (our brahma crossed w/ god only knows what hen
Based on the body movement it was either a cat or a very young bobcat (the body shape was just a tiny bit weird for a standard domestic (if not domesticated) cat). It doesn't move, the light doesn't scare it, we don't scare it..
So in a fit of NOT bloody thinking (seriously this was a dumb move on my part *laughs*) I throw on my boots and stride across the yard (all 5'4" 125# of me) my hair sticking up in every direction hollering at the cat "Let me make this clear, these guys are NOT food." No stick in my hand, NOTHING. If this had not been a cat (or had been rabid) I could really have gotten hurt.. But in the moment I didn't care, my feathered babies were at risk and I was going to protect them... Thankfully the kitty was perfectly normal and ran away at the horrifying vision walking towards it. Of course, it took me two and a half hours to fall back to sleep (wheee adrenaline), but.. I woke up to my Shiva crowing (albeit a little later than usual, I think he was tired too after all the excitement, and I know I heard some quieter calmer noises coming from their coop for a while, so I know they didn't go RIGHT back to sleep either) and it was never so sweet sounding.
(I can't wait until the real coop is out, I have minimal fears about anything getting into it (save a bear which is going to get into pretty much whatever it wants, or a human, and well, I can't do much about other creatures with opposable thumbs). I am not so confident about the temp coop.)
So yeah.. We had our first run in with predators, and thankfully came out lucky. Though I do think next time I want to make sure I grab a stick, or something! Or even better, get the pellet gun (for cats anyway, 'coons and the like get the 22.. Ya' know, I wasn't thrilled when my husband bought that 22 into the house. Now? I'm *glad* we have it, because if anything goes after my birds while I'm home? Yeah, no more critter.)
