For a time we had problems with R*ts and M*ce in the Chicken Chalet… so… we had to put out big, heavy duty, sticky Rat Traps. We were careful, we were diligent, we put them in the place where only the Rats and and Mice went (or so we thought). This was the large, heavy, wooden cover we built for the *well pump, that comes up through the floor of the Well House, which is now the “Chicken Chalet”.
BUT Little Black Hen managed to get back there to start nesting…
There were only two ways to get that trap off. We chose the kinder of the two, and used the scissors. However, she sure did look a mess for awhile! I don’t believe she’s been back there since. 😉
*NOTE: We have never used the well pump for anything other than irrigation of the shrubs and trees. This is because the first time I ever turned on the pump the water was full of rodent fur. 🤢!!!
Life on the Farmlet 
Poor hen!😀
Rats and mice are such a nuisance!!
We got a few cats to help us out with that , the cats were doing a really good job until a pack of coyotes got the cats!😣 now I hesitate to get more cats , for we do have a lot of coyotes around.
Hello Deb!
It’s been a long while, eh? I’m sorry to hear about your cats! It was the same here. We now have two Ginger cats, Pickle and Peanut. They are going on 5 yrs (?) We could never keep cats until we started feeding them in the barn in the evening and then locking them up at night. Sigh, it only took us about 4 cats to figure that one out… Do you have a barn or shed you could coax them into for the night? This really helped us.
We have a cozy bed, made of straw and an old blanket, for them to sleep in, and in winter we when it is FREEZING (22 deg. last night) we (VERY SECURELY) hang a heat lamp above their bed. NOTE: hung on a metal rack, out of reach and C-clamped so it cannot fall down. 😉
Maybe this could help you too?
So now I know what I have in common with at least one chicken. Her experience was akin to me getting my hair stuck in varnish!
Ugh! Did you have to cut your hair? Similarly, I had an episode when I was seven and went to sleep chewing bubble gum. You didn’t want to be there next morning when my mom found out…
😣
It wasn’t so terrible, but I did have to wield a razor blade to cut myself loose, since there was no one else around — and no scissors, and no mirror. Sigh. Live and learn.
awwwww luckily feathers will grow back ^^
Hello Claire! Yes, feathers do reliably grow back when “plucked”. Not so for repeat offenses of eyebrow plucking… I really had a thing for all those old 30-40s movie starlets in the re runs I watched in my teens… I think I would prefer them not to be so narrow now. Sigh.
oh gosh, eyebrows – I never bothered lol.
TRUTHFULLY… I never would have bothered, but my mom actually sat on me and plucked them the first time. 😣 My look before the tweezers attack? Think Brooke Shields with a uni-brow. I hated her for doing that to me. It took some time that day for the redness and swelling to go down.
I’m so glad one of your old posts popped on Facebook. It reminded me to check here! I love your stories. I hope the chicken will look better coiffed soon.
Hello Robin! I don’t know if it is normal, but my chickens have always lost their feathers in the fall. So she should grow most, if not all, of them back. I’m glad you noticed me!
Wherever there’s chicken feed, there’s rats and/or mice, just a sad fact of life. We don’t put out traps, we have a carpet python to take care of things. He’s called Arnie (because he’s an Ex-Terminator, geddit?). Well, this is Australia… and he’s not venomous, only about 42 inches long and he doesn’t bother the chickens or steal egg (yet).
Hello Kate, we have a huge 5 foot gopher snake that hangs out near, but not in, the chicken yard. He/she got the 911 on visiting when the Jack the rooster chased it out… pecking at it all the way through the fence! Glad to know that Jack is on the job, but sad that the snake can’t get to the rodentia when needed. HOWEVER, I have also seen he hens nab the smaller mice and swallow them whole!💀