We've been losing hens lately to a fox. At least, we assume it's a fox. All I see in the morning is a big swath of loose feathers on the ground, but pretty much only a fox is smart enough to figure out that first thing in the morning the chickens are out, but the dogs are still shut up. Two hens have disappeared.
We haven't been shutting the door to the chicken coop at night, so that they can come out first thing in the morning, which is actually before we wake up. Obviously, I have to shut them in now.
So last night I went out to round up the chickens. I found two on the roof of the coop. Real smart, hens. I used a stick to prod them off the roof and into the coop. Not, of course, without some chasing of the one rebel hen around and around the coop a couple of times before she finally ran into the coop.
That just left Penny.
Penny is our old hen. We've had her about seven years now. She's taken to "roosting" at night on the ground behind the dog pen. Penny is about as far from aggressive as a hen can be. She's quite unlikely to peck or kick or flap or do anything else unpleasant when picked up.
But I still put on a coat to cover my arms and gloves to cover my hands before I picked her up. And that is because I have a quite irrational fear of being pecked.
Logically, I know that a peck from a hen isn't going to result in any serious damage. This is an animal I outweigh by over a hundred pounds. There's no reason to be afraid of it.
But I still cover up, because fears are often irrational. And that's why I was wearing a heavy winter coat and work gloves to carry a docile six-pound hen thirty yards to the chicken coop*.
Now it's your turn to confess: What fears do you have that you know are irrational but you just can't help?
* I was doing this in the lead-up to our third very violent thunderstorm yesterday, two of which featured some significant hail. We didn't sustain any notable damage--other than the fact that our gravel driveway essentially washed away--but not everyone in our area was so lucky.
11 comments:
Snakes! All we have are garter snakes so they're not venomous but they ALWAYS surprise me in the bulkhead and that slither! Gross. We had a bunch of babies in our basement around the washer and dryer a couple of years ago. Poor hubs didn't have a lot of clean clothes that summer. Eww.
The Dark! I hate the dark! It is annoying to be afraid of the dark during kidding season because there are times when I really should go out at night to check on the goats. Sometimes I can get up enough courage to run as fast as I can from the house to the barn with my head-lamp on and the outside lights on. Other times I just say "screw it" and hope that when I go out in the morning there will be perfectly healthy goat kids to greet me. I am getting a little better about the dark but I still don't enjoy it.
Karla named my irrational fear.... SNAKES! Snakes on the Plane.
Roaches. Just...no.
I will shoo spiders and bees into glasses and let them outside. We have stink bugs in our bathroom and I will just pick them up with toliet paper and I'm fine.
But large roaches? That FLY?! Nope. Totally not okay seeing them, killing them or dealing with them.
-moi
Bats. Need I say more?
I cover my ears up every night while I sleep. I have the (rational, I think) and crazy fear that some varmint will sneak into my ear canal in the night and just hang out in there.
And bees. I have a visceral and instant ridiculous reaction to bees. Which is awesome. Because I'm a gardener. And we need them in the garden.
Dude. I've been pecked like shit by my crazy hen (who is now chicken stock) and it HURTS. I feel 'ya.
the common cold... It's so ridiculous... I think my cold is going to turn into bronchitis or pneumonia, or mono, and that I am going to die of a silly phlegmy cough...
I blame my mother and her irrational dependency upon doctors and medicine.
I don't know what you're talking about. All my fears are completely rational and justified.
[whistles tunelessly ... kicks a rock ... walks away slowly ...]
I am joining Drew on his walk away slowly whistling ..kicking rocks denial walk. Beth
i am very sorry about this, but you asked. this is my irrational fear: that while i am in a porta-potty i will for some reason compulsively lick the urinal.
i do not know why i am afraid of this.
Ants, anywhere in my sight. I get hysterical when they get on me, even one little one. I was attacked by fireants that completely covered and stung one leg and the other leg up to my knee.
My chickens I raised from one-day-old do not peck me. The grown one I got pecks me when I try to see if she is sitting on an egg. She drew blood. So, I pull my sweatshirt down over my hand to reach under.
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