The Funny Farm: Chicken Keepers Face Off With Wildlife

I’m a chicken keeper and a naturalist. Not all poultry folks are both. The responses to encounters with wildlife run the gamut: from acceptance that those species have the right to exist, to working harder to predator proof coops and runs and restricting birds’ free-ranging access, and all the way to wanting to kill every form of wildlife on a property whether those animals have shown any predatory behaviour ‘just in case’.

This post includes stories about native animal friends and foes. I usually advocate for attempting to share our spaces with wildlife, although that’s not always possible. Case in point is finding a venomous snake in your bathtub – although I was hoping for a happier ending like relocation rather than eradication.

My rooster certainly earned his keep while I was out of town! This story is via my uncle who was homestead-sitting while my partner and I were visiting the folks. Apparently a Coopers Hawk dove down into the chicken yard intent on taking a hen, but my rooster football tackled it into the ground so hard it dazed the hawk. (See imprint in the snow) My rooster then proceeded to kick the blue blazes out of the hawk until it flew up into the trees. My rooster (Theodore Roostervelt) then flew onto the coop and crowed and fumed until the bedraggled hawk flew away. He’s been strutting around like he owns the whole place ever since. – Unknown

I was by my fireplace, kids in bed, husband at work, drink in hand. I suddenly heard my hens screaming. Like grown women. Apparently the chair held my drink for me. I got out to the pen in flip flops and my dog barked once, then ran off. I found my phone light. Next thing I knew I was holding a live sharp-toothed thing and 10 hens were going nuts. So that’s why we hadn’t had eggs in last two weeks. I impulsively grabbed the danger and moved it along. I thought I was done drinking, but needed a refill.- Ellen Hewitt

We were sitting in the house one night when our hen, Igor, hopped up on the window sill and started squawking wildly. We ran to see what all the commotion was and saw this owl sitting in the tree watching her. The window sill was her favorite place to roost. She would sit on whatever side of the house we were in and stare through the windows watching us just live out our lives. These are the memories my kids will have from growing up on the funny farm. – Cheltzey Newman

Can someone tell me why this vulture has decided my chicken coop is the perfect place to start a family? She doesn’t harm or bother the chickens, but walks through their automatic door like she belongs there, picks a nesting box, and settles in. She laid an egg the day before yesterday, and I still can’t believe it. We keep running her off whenever we catch her, but she keeps coming back like she has already signed the lease. – Unknown

My rooster Hank went toe to toe with a hawk this afternoon protecting his girls. They must have really been going at it. I fixed Hank some scrambled eggs and he ate for the first time in a couple days. I took him out of the isolation box and he is currently walking around the kitchen watching my wife cook. – Unknown

It is 12:30am here. I am woken out of dead sleep by my baby chicks making a huge ruckus in their “brooder”, the bathtub in an unused bathroom. I stumble into the room, which only has a small red nightlight on and find two of my chicks sitting by the door. I’m thinking they must’ve had a fright and flown up and out. I make a mental note to make the walls higher in the morning as I scoop up the chicks and put them back. Two more are huddled in a corner and are joined by the runaway sisters. At this point, I should mention, I wear glasses, which are conveniently located on my nightstand, so it is dark in the room and I am essentially blind. I see one of the Buff Orpington chicks all splayed out weirdly in the bathtub. I’m thinking, what is on it, poke, poke, poke – yes, with my naked hand. Nothing is moving, I finally decide to turn on the light. A freaking nightmare unfolds. There is a snake, possibly a copperhead, I’m no snake expert and it didn’t introduce itself, wrapped around the lifeless body of my chick. The others are huddled in the opposite corner. Like any good wife, I scream for my husband that there is a snake and it killed my baby. Like any good husband, he jumps to action with the words, yeah right, thinking I am exaggerating, until he sees the nightmare. I am in full on panic mode, telling him to shoot it. He says, “What with? I can’t put a hole in the bathtub”. I’m screaming to get it out before it kills another. The consensus is, the snake has to die because nobody wants to get bit during removal. We settle on a pellet gun and thankfully my husband is a great shot. The snake and the baby chick are dead and have been removed and I have a whole new fear unlocked. Nobody knows how a full grown snake got into the house, but I may never sleep again after this. – Unknown

Every year, a black vulture hatches a baby in our chicken coop. She gets locked up at night with her egg/baby and the chickens every night and every morning the door gets opened and she leaves. This year’s baby is at the age where it leaves the coop, but usually spends the day hiding until Mama comes back. Today curiosity got the best of it and it emerged from its hiding place to investigate what my husband was doing, which was putting feed bags in the feed room. – Unknown