Posted: 7/15/2011 7:12:41 PM EDT
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Yeah, I know. Sounds weird. But so does my "purring" chicken.
Starting at the beginning, I built an incubator from an old ice chest and put a dozen eggs in it from my henhouse. Eight of the eggs hatched, but three of the chicks died within a day or two. That left me with 5. We raised those 5 in a plastic storage box in the kitchen, putting fresh papers in the bottom every day to keep the smell down. After 6 weeks I decided to move them out to the henhouse with the old chickens. To keep the older hens from picking on them so much, I put the chicks in an old rabbit cage and wired it up on the roost. The next day when my wife went out to check them, she found three of the five dead in the cage, their necks stretched out and slimy from the head to the shoulders. SNAKE! She brought the remaing two back in the house to their box. Things rocked along fine for another couple of weeks, at which point I decided to put these two outside again. They appeared big enough to take care of themselves, so I put them in the henhouse loose. The old hens harassed them some, but things finally settled down. I went out at dark to see if the chicks found a place on the roost. When I looked in the door, I saw a snake on the floor under the hanging feeder. I couldn't see the head, so I opened the door and stepped inside with flashlight in one hand and .38 in the other. Then I saw one of my chicks stuck in the snake's mouth. I stepped on the snake a few inches behind its head in hopes it would spit out the chick and hoped maybe the chick could be alive. The snake complied and spit out the chick, but too late. Then I found myself in a quandary. I was standing on a VERY pissed-off snake on a hard floor. I didn't want to shoot the snake that close to my foot due to likely bullet splatter, so I lifted my foot and jumped back. The snake lunged at me, then darted for the far corner. I fired four times, finally hitting him in the head. Note to self: DO NOT FIRE A .38 inside a metal henhouse! I'm still deaf. The remaining chick came back in the house with me. http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd305/olfart/Snakewithchicken.jpg By this time we have a half-grown pullet living in this plastic box in the kitchen, and I start to notice some strange noises. Sounds a little like a distant telephone with a muted ringer. Every time I'd get up and go look, the noise would stop. I finally stood by the box long enough to catch the chicken making the noise again. I swear it sounded like she was purring. She doesn't do it all the time, just when she's lying down resting. She's become quite a pet and resents having to stay in her box. This afternoon I moved her out to the henhouse again. After several trips out to check on her, I finally convinced her to stay on the top of the roost with the old hens. No sign of any more snakes YET. Has anyone ever heard a chicken make a purring sound, or do I need to farm her out to a circus? |
| something like a soft "cooocoooocooo"? In the begiining with the youngens I wiould coo at them really soft and later on they would come running acorss the yard and sometimes come up to be petted or look for handouts. I quit doing that because I didnt want them that tame due to skunks, coons and fox.. and 1 badger |
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The purring is no longer an issue with my little chicken. I had to bury her today. Doesn't appear to be a snake this time, as her head and neck were not slimed. Probably the older hens cornered her and killed her. Guess it's about time to put some old hens in the freezer.
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