Well, a night creature visited the chickens.
I head outside at 5:20 am and the cheeps are squawking. A few pieces of plywood we have arranged around the Chick Shaw are knocked over. Suspicious but not too harrowing. Wind? Some small critter? Then I see the knocked over trash can, crushed in the middle. Like something very big and angry punched it when it wasn't filled with chicken dinner. Hoo boy, a bear. I had placed the chickens’ grain dish in the empty can the night before and the dish now sat empty a few feet away. The bear had its snack and skidaddled.
I imagine the bear sniffing around the Shaw, getting clunked on the head with plywood, and being too weirded out to continue investigating. Tarps and nets all over the place may have made it too hard to mentally process. We’ve never had a bear this close to the house before. In the fields, yes, but never right outside the front door. I’ve never electrified the netting around the coop before – the threat has never existed.
I feel fortunate right now. I allow the grown-up birds to go out for the day, but leave the cheeps locked up for the day. They’re still too rambunctious. I need to reimagine their set-up. Make it safer.
Less than a mile away on my drive to work, I see a bear cub at the roadside. I wonder if that was the culprit. Just a goofy little cub on its own, causing a ruckus. Regardless, I decide I will get the net nice and hot tonight. If the bear returns, well, z-z-z-appp!
To be continued!