for the love of coyotes

In my transition to wannabe farmer, one big thing I learned this past year is that there are enemies all around you. Those cute woodland creatures that hang out with Disney characters are not actually your friends.

This is a hard lesson for a girl that has been an animal lover her entire life. No, I am not on the PETA extreme side of animal love but I can admit that I am not too far off.

But as a farmer of chickens (and one day goats), it is my responsibility to keep my animals safe. No matter the other animals involved.

Chickens have free roam of the yard.

Deer, snakes, rats, mice, squirrels, chipmunks - cute, cute chipmunks! – opossums, other dogs and cats, these are all nuisances that I have learned are not good for gardens and chicken coops.

So when Hank decides to take down a chipmunk, I just have to turn my back and sing to myself “The Circle of Life.”

And when a stray cat wanders through the yard, I can’t try to coax the cat towards me for some friendly petting. Instead I have to scare that cat into never wanting to come close to our property again.

And when you find an opossum snuggled up in one of your chicken boxes in the coop, well that opossum gets to have a shovel bashed into its skull.

“The Circle of Life.”

And as bad as all of those things are, there is an even more deadly enemy out there…

The coyote.

We suspect that a coyote - more likely coyotes - took the lives of four of our chickens recently. They were left out of the chicken coop one night and decided to get an early start the next morning before the sun even rose. Mistake. All that was left of them were a pile of feathers.

And I guess I am starting to toughen up because I wasn’t devastated by their deaths like I was about the other chicken deaths (see don't be stupid post). Sure it’s sad but it didn’t faze me. Next thing you know, I’ll be getting some death cones and chopping chicken heads off...

...well…

...no.

Another important lesson learned. Sure, the chickens seem fine when they decide to fly into trees or on top of the coop roof for the night, but they really should be inside the coop at night. Especially those extra smart chickens that decide not to follow their companions into the trees or higher ground and instead decide to just lay on the ground in front of their door. It's like they are not even trying to hide from danger.

You cannot be one minute behind in getting our chickens in for the night.
If you are, they'll decide to roost in the tree for the night.

Now we make sure that we get those chickens in on time because once the day is done for them, they find their own place to sleep for the night. Coop be damned.

It also helps to have a dog that barks at everything that moves and any little noise she hears (it is amazing what she can hear even when she is inside). So, when Althea sounds the alarm, we – Sean – go to investigate. It usually turns out to be nothing but you never know when we might stop our nemesis from foul play

And you do have to think about your other pets when it comes to coyotes. Fortunately, Althea is really an inside dog and is just too big and a bit on the crazy side. No coyote in their right mind would want to bother with her. And Hank is too smart for a coyote. You don’t survive on the streets of Atlanta without learning a thing or two about escaping danger.

So what about goats?

When the time comes, we will make sure our goats are also protected from coyotes. They will be fenced in, will have shelter and will be kept in the company of a miniature donkey (or two). Yes, we will also have miniature donkeys on the farm, and they will be miniature because who wants to mess with a full sized donkey.


This is not our donkey.
 

He was at the fair.

There was also a giraffe.
 

And here are some fun facts we have learned about donkeys:

They hate canines, so they are perfect for protecting livestock from coyotes. We’ll just have to make sure Althea stays away.

They go ballistic when they sense danger and make all kinds of noise to sound the alarm and scare off predators.

They are smart. How smart? Well, unlike horses, who will break its own leg struggling to get out of a fence if it gets caught, a donkey will calmly wait for you to come get its leg free or will figure out how to get out of the fence without breaking its leg.

They are not stubborn. They get this reputation because they are thinkers and will reason, then make a decision based on their safety. So, if a donkey won't budge, it's because they are deciding if it's worth it.

And the best fact of all - they have best friends. It is said to get two donkeys because they will form an attachment and don’t like to be on their own.

I have officially fallen in love with the donkey, y'all…