Getting a Trim

The neighbors have a flock of chickens that are in a chicken run.  Most of them are, anyway.  There are a few hens that like to fly up over the fence and meander over into our yard .  They make a beeline for the flower beds where they like to scratch all the mulch out of the bedding in search of worms.  We love our neighbors, but we don't love the hens scratching in the beds.  They also like to scratch the mulch out from around the citrus trees.

At some point we'll have over a half dozen chickens visiting in our yard.  Over the past several months, I've made it a challenge to catch each of the offending hens with a net, clip their wings and send them back to the chicken run where they won't be able to run to our yard ever again.  I've caught all but two of them.  Today, I saw one in the yard, so I got the net and clippers and ran her down until I cornered her where I could catch her.  She made a lot of racket!  She was not a happy bird.  Her freedom ended, but she should count her blessings.  She lived to see another day.

I used some tin snips to cut the feathers back on both wings.  Really, cutting them off of only one wing does the trick, but I wanted to make doubly sure she was grounded.  Feathers were flying and she was squawking.  All the noise riled up the rooster and the guineas in their yard.  They were empathizing their caught comrade.

With feathers clipped, I walked the perpetrator back over next door.

I dropped her over the fence and she scampered away.  Her pride was hurt, but she'll be okay tomorrow.

Now there's one more to catch and clip.  She's a smart bird, though.  Rather than allowing herself to get cornered like the others, she runs toward the neighbor's fence and with a running start, flies right over.  I'll have to think up another plan to try to outsmart the smart bird.  It's sort of like Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner!