Death of a Chicken

Sometimes you get a unique perspective on an event that would seem otherwise random chance and are able to see how multiple variables met up in just the right way at the right time to lead to an absolute conclusion.  Today was one of those times for me.

We have a dog.  Said dog has wounded one of our chickens before, but it was because she pushed her way into the barnyard when the temptation was too great not to chase them, it was because I let the chickens out of their coop within the barnyard and they were clucking about while I worked in the barn, and because I didn't know that the dog could push the gate open.  No real mystery there.  I rescued and rehabilitated the hen and I was more careful about locking the gate when I was both out of the barnyard AND inside.

A few days ago, I found one of our hens on the wrong side of the fence.  She was strutting around the wood pile looking as confused as ever.  (She is by far one of the two dumbest chickens I've ever encountered, the other being her sister of the same breed.)  She's a lightweight bird so it was not impossible for her to fly over the fence, and her being so pea-brained it probably sounded like a good idea to her.  I threw her back over the fence when I found her, and that was that.

We also have goats.  The chicken coop is within the fenced goat pasture/barnyard.  In case you're unfamiliar, dear readers, goats will happily try to squeeze their bodies through very tight openings to get at food or anything that might be food.  Our goats being pygmies, they're short and wide in the middle and they eat to excess.  I have witnessed them shove themselves into the chicken coop (through a chicken-sized door) to steal their grain, pig out, and then, just a tiny bit too fat to fit, get stuck in the chicken door like a loud-mouthed Winnie the Pooh.  Hilarious, annoying, all depends on your perspective of course.  Recently I discovered a hole in the chicken coop near the outer door.  It was pushed straight through the chicken wire right at pygmy goat height with some telltale fur left on the wires.  They didn't exactly hide the evidence.  The birds left some rind or something else near the door to the coop that looked good enough to eat, so they tried.  The hole was big enough to let a predator in, but I wasn't very worried since we have an automatic door on the roost that locks the chickens in at night.  I haven't been bothering to close the coop door since the hole was made.  Not only would it not keep a predator out, it couldn't keep the chickens in either, and they could conceivably hurt themselves trying to use the hole as a door..  Otherwise, I keep them cooped up during the day and only let them out when I can keep an eye or ear out for them.  I figured they would be safe enough though for a few days or week or however long it took to figure out what to do about the goats damaging the coop.

So today, the chickens were out because they couldn't be in. and I was working in the office, and the dog was outside, and one of the smarter hens followed one of the dumber hens over the fence where she was an easy plaything for the dog.  That was all she wanted, really.  She didn't eat her.

So many failures had to take place for that to happen.  Why was the dog outside unsupervised?  She's an anxious rescue and doesn't do well in captivity or on a tie-out.  I let her out to go pee and she didn't come back right away.  She usually stays nearby. I wasn't very worried.  Why didn't I fix the coop right away?  The goats had been causing damage to it for months and I didn't want a hack solution, I wanted a solution, but I hadn't thought of a good one yet.  ( I  have since implemented a hack and have planned the permanent, but it took me one day longer than she had to come up with one I knew would work and seen the necessity of a temporary fix.)

It makes me think because these are the kinds of situations that I work so hard ot prevent.  When something is important, I try to construct layers of fail-safes.  I sometimes feel as though I'm being attacked by a universe-sized slot machine, and each spinning column stops at a decision and all the factors culminate to wreck what I've built.

My getting to work on time in the morning relies unfortunately mostly on the behavior of others.  People are nice randomness generators too of course, far more complex and unreliable that slot machines.  But that's where my life is right now.  I have to rely on the kids getting ready without too many tantrums or mishaps, I have to rely on two bus drivers arriving on time and not blowing past us because they're a substitute.  I have to rely on the husband to leave me enough gas in the car, our plow guy to show up to plow the long dirt driveway so I can get out.  I have a backup plan for many of these things, in case they fail, but what do you do when they ALL fail?  Sometimes they do. I'm really bad at having to rely on other people.  I hate doing it.  I don't blame the dog. I'm a bit of an anxious rescue too. I wouldn't let anyone put me out on a chain or in a cage either.  Who knows if they'd ever come back?