Strange Homesteading Dreams

I have been having strange homesteading dreams as of late….I was running through the woods in the middle of the night and I stepped on a stick “Ow” I don’t think I am dreaming…nope I wasn’t!

This wasn’t the first strange homesteading dream I had had so when I jolted away from the movement or hustle bustle I heard I was surprised.  It was actually my husband who woke me up he was flying out of our bed….and out the door I was having a dream in which my chicken Hazel was calling out to me that she had just laid an egg…. they often cackle as I work in the garden and then I woke up groggily I realized that wasn’t her egg laying call;  that was her screaming.   I ran quickly behind him. I saw he was out running in the yard and I grabbed the flashlight and ran quickly behind him.   I ran into the woods adrenalin pumping just fairly sure at that point it was most likely a racoon and I was pretty sure that scoundrel had Hazel my favorite chicken.   The other reason I thought it was a racoon is that we are pretty sure it was a racoon that got our Americauna chicken Gertrude last year and that’s what caused us to build the chicken run to offer our chickens more protection.  

Only a critter who had already found out how good chicken tastes would put themselves trapped in a fenced run in my opinion. Unfortunately the racoon got away but don’t let that cute little creature in the photo above fool you if you are a chicken farmer raccoons are your enemy and it is our job to protect our investment of fresh eggs.  If you haven’t ever read my posts about my chickens Hazel is my Buff Orpington and is a very reliable layer, extremely docile, and will eat right out of my hand.

Well this morning the Viking in my life my husband Eric checked Hazel over she is only missing a couple of feathers and is not much worse off than that thank goodness.  This is why chicken farmers often keep the coops close by their bedroom window and we sleep with our window cracked in the bedroom almost all year-long so that we can keep an ear out on the chickens although if it were up to me I probably would have kept dreaming.  Thank goodness Eric heard and at least stopped that whole situation last night and he also secured the fencing where it had come loose from the raccoon working away at it over time..(at least we think…)   Chickens unfortunately have lots of predators that the backyard chicken farmer has to contend with raccoons are just one of them, they have to worry about possums, foxes, birds of prey just to name a couple.   Raising chickens is not for the faint of heart….no way…no how.   Well hopefully we will sleep better tonight and thanks for stopping by our Lil’ Suburban Homestead!  Come back tomorrow for the Friday night pizza challenge!

I wish you all a beautiful week…until next time!