The Snake, the Fox and the Chicken.

This is a story of one crazy day on the homestead.

Our story begins just like any other day at my house. We did a little school, the kids got on my nerves and I sent them out to the woods. While they were gone I spent some time on chores, then retreated up to my room for lunch and some quiet. This is usually the best part of my afternoon where I can relax for a few minutes before prepping dinner and getting ready to go to work. It was during this nice relaxing moment that I heard the kids screaming.

Now I don’t go rushing when my kids scream for many reasons. The top reason is that half the time they are playing some sort of game where one of them is a dinosaur and the others are trying to escape and everyone is screaming like they are dying. This day however my youngest two boys don’t just come screaming into the house they are yelling the dreaded word, SNAKE! We have a rule at my house, you don’t touch a snake if you don’t know what it is, and this snake was not the kind you touch. The boys were yelling telling me it was a Copperhead. For those of you that don’t live in an area with these guys, they are not friendly snakes, and they are venomous (I always have to make sure I don’t say poisonous, because, venom is injected and poison is ingested. Just ask my oldest he will correct you Every Time you say the wrong one.)

At this point, I realize my quiet is over, I grabbed my boots; and out we went. We headed back to the chicken coop where the offender was. He happened to be right next to the path my two kids just walked up. My oldest was still in the creek bed trying to figure out where to go so he can get out of the creek and not step on the snake. The snake was also located right next to my chicken coop which, is a big no-no. At this point, I needed to make a quick decision, what to do with this guy. I would like to say I left him alone so he could continue on with his day, and that would have been the case if he was not right where the boys play daily. So I took care of him, made sure he was good and gone, and went inside to prep potatoes.

I was now in the kitchen with about an hour to go before I had to get ready for work. The kids were getting to watch some tv and relax after their excitement. I was cutting potatoes and mixing them in a delicious garlic butter sauce to be roasted later. I looked up and saw chickens running and a small mammal sprinting across the yard with a chicken in its mouth. I promptly dropped my potatoes scream fox and we all went running. The fox was sprinting towards the woods, heard me scream, and drops the chicken (thank god for hot summer days and open windows.) We got out there just in time to see the fox high tail it into the woods. I ran over to the bird and assessed the situation, doesn’t seem good. The poor chicken was in shock and she had some cuts on her back where she was grabbed. We decided to separate her from the other birds and nurse her for the next few days.

We went back in I finished my potato prep and headed to work. I am exhausted, but still have to work my shift. Sometimes homesteading can take all your energy and then you still have to come up with more to do everything else.

The injured chicken surprisingly survived with only a limp. She was no longer a very fast bird but she did live a few more years before she passed. All in all, it was some day and one I will never forget.