At Home: Protector...x

Never underestimate a mother's protective instinct. A chick nestles amongst her mothers feathers. She's a little traumatised. She witnessed her sibling being dragged through a hole in her hutch over the weekend. A rat chewed through the wood. Normally this would result in complete wipeout of mothers and chicks. Rats are intelligent. They either kill and take what they need at the time, returning again and again, or wipe out a hutch completely. I have seen bodies dragged out of a pen before, and half dug into the ground, a makeshift store. They harbour food, dead or alive.

Hens are furiously protective of their chicks. We have witnessed this hen peck a field mouse to death in three strikes of her beak. Perhaps believing it to be a rat. Either way, the rat that took chick would have received her fury. Its a testimony her bravery and protective maternal spirit that she and the other chicks survived.

I guessed that there was a problem. She came out into the pen, returning agitated in and out, as if drawing my attention to the hole. We moved her to a new pen, away from danger. Its no consolation. Its hard watching her, upset and now over protective. As a mother, I can relate to that. I feel humbled that despite her ruffled feathers, she allows me into her new pen. From one protective mother to another, I think we are both standing on common ground. x




(ps: we caught 3 rats today, one chick down: 3 rats gone...slowly winning!)