I will not lie…last week was a very trying week on the farm.
It all started with that soap making headache which continued for six days and made it’s way into the flu. I was weak, nauseous, achy, and headachy. The kids both got colds with different symptoms, and Christine had to leave for a business trip for four full days.
I had not been sick like this in years but I had to take care of 47ish (okay, I lost count) animals and two sick kiddos (luckily the teenager is self sufficient most of the time). It was total hell.
Had it gone okay I would have still thought it was a total nightmare, but it didn’t. There was one thing after the next that happened over those four days, but yesterday was the craziest so I’ll write about that.
Yesterday morning I woke up finally feeling better. For the first day I didn’t have a headache, the kind where you move up or down and it feels like your skull is splitting into pieces. This was a victory. I just might survive the weekend, I thought.
While Christine was away we left the chickens in their coop without access to their run because the rooster doesn’t like me and I’m terrified of picking him up and putting him in the coop each night (he won’t go in by himself because the silkies don’t know how to walk up the ramp…not the smartest of birds…and he won’t leave them behind). Okay I’m not just terrified of picking him up, but the one time I tried to go into the run he flew at me and after already having a fear of birds this really was the end for me.
So chickens in coop–all I had to do was open it and put in food and water once a day. No problem. Usually because Pomplemousse (the rooster) stays near the door and scares me I use a tile to shield myself and scare him away so I can get the waterers but things went well all week and I was able to give them their stuff without issue.
Yesterday morning I fed and watered them and was closing up when one of the barred rocks (we call them all Cindy now because we can’t see the “mole” coloring she had anymore) stood near the door waiting to be petted. I reached out and petted her while everyone else was eating. Big mistake. Pomplemousse turned his head around mid-bite and flew at my face! He flew right out of the coop AT MY FACE. As if this wasn’t terrifying enough he then was on the ground attacking my legs and flying at me. I was trying to get away but he just ran and attacked my legs and squawked. I was kicking, I was screaming at the top of my lungs, but nothing mattered…he just kept right on attacking. I’m sure the neighbors got a good laugh of it. I remember specifically yelling “STOP IT!!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!”
Eventually he ran back over by the coop and went underneath it. The door was still ajar at this point since I’d run away and so I got a shovel to protect myself if he attacked me and went back to latch it. A barred rock, probably the same one, was about to jump out but I latched the door just in time. I was not about to catch the rooster so I had no idea what to do.
I went inside and cried. It was incredibly traumatic, honestly, though it may sound stupid just reading it. I ended up talking to Christine and she calmed me down a bit and reassured me that he would be fine if I couldn’t get him back in.
I was terrified he would attack us any time my daughter and I went outside to walk the dogs but we both decided he would probably stay under or around the coop and not bother anyone.
I was telling my teenager about what happened maybe an hour later and she glanced out the window and observed that he was nowhere near the coop…he had taken a stroll around the yard and was now under our plum tree in the very corner of our property. I saw the neighbor walk by with his dogs and hoped that Pomplemousse wouldn’t jump the fence or something.
Then I went to the back to take care of all the other animals…ducks, horses, goats. I came back in and my teen told me that Pompley was nowhere in sight. We figured he must have jumped the fence or gone back under the coop where we couldn’t see him. I wasn’t sure what to do with Chai (farm dog) because I knew she wouldn’t do well with a loose bird but it didn’t seem like a big deal because in the morning she’s really chill and goes from her crate on the porch onto her tie out to eat her breakfast. I poured milk into her bowl and then opened her crate so she could follow me to get her food in the building next door and then be tied out. She was chill and then…in between the buildings…there was Pamplemousse laying down for a rest on the deck. We saw him in the same moment and she lunged.
Side note here: I don’t think we have written about our dislike for farm dogs. They are not bred to listen to humans, they are bred to follow their instincts which is supposed to be guarding the animals they live with. I did research, and unfortunately there aren’t books on the subject other than picture books (Ooh look at that dog guarding the pretty sheep!) so the research has to be done online, mostly in FB groups, which I see now is not an accurate way to learn valid information. People say things like “It’s in their blood, you don’t have to train them” etc and really we had NO IDEA what a nightmare it would be to have a dog like this. First of all, they don’t listen. They do not care if you yell at them or anything. They will act like they are deaf and just keep doing what they are doing. Ours has zero respect for humans, at least not the ones in our household, and she has become a very intimidating 60 pound puppy. She has caused thousands and thousands of dollars of damage around our property and people say things like “You should keep her in a 10×10 enclosure 24/7 in the middle of the goat pen, not loose, but how could you keep a large breed dog in something like that and not think they will dig out and eat your goats? None of it seems right. We have been trying to rehome her in hopes that someone with another dog will have better luck with her (she does seem lonely as the only outdoor dog and some direction from an adult LGD would be great for her) but we have had a hard time rehoming. We have a solution that I’m hoping works out for her but it will be another 2 weeks or so, so we just keep going until then. It’s a hard situation because in ways she’s a great dog, she’s just not a great dog for us. She’s not a good breed for us. She needs more training than we know how to give and she needs more alpha type humans than we will ever be. We’re both used to dog breeds that are either food motivated or people pleasing. She is neither.
Back to yesterday: I yelled and screamed at the dog, knowing that chasing would just become a game; as usual she didn’t care. Rooster escaped and ran into the rosebushes which are enclosed in cattle panels. Chai still found a way in. It was awful to watch. I kept trying to do help…I sprayed the dog with the hose, but nothing worked, only irritated her so that she took him and ran away with him. I gave up, went inside, had a meltdown…you know, I’m a sensitive vegetarian-much-of-my-life person. Feeling hopeless in a situation like this is the worst.
Eventually Chai went into her crate for her breakfast and I closed her in.
At the end of my emotional outpour, I told everyone in the household that I didn’t want to hear another thing about the subject because it was too triggering and I went upstairs to take a shower so we could head into Austin and leave the upset of country life for a while. While in the shower my daughter yelled through the door “He’s alive” which triggered another upset for me because the last thing I wanted was a suffering animal on my property. While the humane thing may have been to shoot him, I’m not sure I’m capable of that, and I definitely wasn’t in that moment. I just wanted to leave this life behind for the day.
So we left. We went out to eat, we went to the mall, we got groceries, and we came home. I was terrified to go outside for fear I’d see his lifeless body. I was afraid to go to the barn to milk the goats, worried that’s where his body had ended up.
…But there he was, walking around in the tall grass as if nothing had happened.
Huge mixed feelings. ONE: Hurray, this bird is somehow not dead and does not appear injured TWO: Oh no. This mean rooster that chases me and tries to hurt me is loose on the property and is now near the barn.
In the end my daughter went with me to milk to stand guard and make sure he wasn’t coming closer.
After milking we found him taking a nap under our buzzing bee Texas sage bush (see other post). Later we found him patrolling the front yard. Christine told me to open up the chicken run so he could go in there when it got dark. I threw food in and eventually (over an hour later) he went in. My teen watched one side while I ran around back and threw the door closed. HE WAS CAUGHT!
Later looking at him closely he looked sad (he wanted his friends and what a long day it must have been for him) but uninjured. Maybe a few head and tail feathers missing but nothing anyone who hadn’t met him would even notice. No limp, no blood, nothing else that I could notice was different.
This morning upon waking I saw that Christine had moved him into the coop when she got home at 1am. I don’t know how it went as she’s still catching up on sleep, but he looks happy to be back with his girls.