The Headless Hen

 

"That's it. I've had it with this dump! We've got no food, we got no jobs,... our pets' HEADS ARE FALLIN' OFF!!!"  Quote from the movie Dumb and Dumber

Why am I thinking about a quote from Dumb and Dumber?  Well, I walked out to the barn this morning to do as we always do - morning chores.  It's always a pretty sight in the morning.  The sun is just coming up in the east and the sun's rays are filtering through the live oak and pecan trees, casting long shadows westward across the pasture.  I stopped to just soak in the view and stillness of the morning.  The roosters suddenly break the silence with loud crows that echo across the property.  Sometimes I feel like screaming in the morning, too, but not today.  It is a nice day.

But then, I notice that something isn't right.   Just to the west of the barn and south of the garden, I spot a Barred Rock hen.  She's laying down like chickens do when they are taking a dust bath.  Except, she's not taking a dust bath.  She's got no head.

Overnight, some critter killed her, leaving her body intact, but taking her head.  From past experience, I'm guessing that the predator is either a raccoon or an owl.  They are both notorious for this.  This was a big, fat hen.  You can see that dark yellow fat lining her breast on the just-killed carcass.  She was healthy and would have laid many more eggs for us.  But her egg-laying days are done.

Driving to church today, there was a huge raccoon dead on Louisiana Highway 26, not far, as the crow flies, from the pasture where the headless hen lays.  I hope the bandit that killed our hen is the one that's in the middle of the road.  An eye for an eye, as the Good Book says.  But if an owl is the culprit, and you'll remember that I posted a photo of a big barn owl in our front yard last month, then we've got big problems.  It is illegal to kill an owl.  What to do?  I did catch yet ANOTHER possum in my cage trap last night, but I don't think its possums that are doing the killing this time.

Well, that's where Belle, our livestock guardian dog, a Great Pyrenees, comes in. 

We've tried several times to let her free in the pasture to guard the cows, chickens and goats.  At first, she didn't quite understand her job description and would kill the chickens.  This wasn't working.  Then, when we think she had that worked out of her system, she'd jump over the perimeter fence and would roam all over the place.  There's several problems with that.  The neighbors aren't keen with the idea of a big dog roaming through their property.  Then, she doesn't understand the busy road.  She crosses it with reckless abandon.  We don't want her to get hit like the raccoon we talked about earlier.

I am going to start researching one of those collars that allows you to roam so many feet before a light shock is administered to hopefully keep her at home.  I'll report back with what I learn.  One way or another, we've got to solve our predation dilemma.