On chickens, mice and goodbyes
I have several intruders by my chicken right now. I only have one chicken, but I recently acquired eight gigantic mice.
They run from the bags of feed to the corners of the walls when I walk into the coop and even though I know they are there, they scare me every single time. I stand on a wood board hoping they don’t attack me when I feed my chicken.
Ross told me to get a cat. I already have one, he just doesn’t do anything. I could maybe throw him in there when I first open the doors in the morning.
When I go in there in the mornings I’ll just be feeding and watering Miss Henley - that’s my chicken’s name - and when I open up the door three or four mice go running, followed by another two or three mice.
All I can do is stand on the wood board and look at them with disgust.
They make bigger sized rat traps so I’m going to set some those up and get them out of there. Miss Henley never gets out of her crate anymore, and I think they have a cause in it. The one chicken I have is about one year old now. I got her last year in the summertime.
I didn’t know though that chickens get infested with mites. My family and I had to fight off angry swarms of mites every time we fed and watered Miss Henley.
She survived through the winter time, but the mites didn’t. We initially started off with a heat lamp, but the light bulb burnt out, so I replaced it with a regular fluorescent light bulb. It didn’t provide much heat for her, so I lugged up a big heater my dad had stashed away in the basement. I have it set to 72 degrees, and that heater does a far better job than the heat lamp ever did.
Miss Henley actually uses the heater. She never liked the heat lamp, she would only perch in the light. I was always worried she was cold with the heat lamp. The heater heats the whole chicken coop up.
Miss Henley is brown colored, with green and blue feathering. She responds to her name and likes to be held. Her favorite person is my brother Jordan.
He doesn’t take care of her at all though. He’s always telling me, “It’s not my chicken.” So now I am the one taking care of Miss Henley, and trying to keep her fed and alive.
As many of you know from last week, Ross is saying goodbye to the Tribune-Phonograph. I wish Ross the best in his career and his writing journey. I hope he can find a job that satisfies him, and right now he works like a horse. He puts 100 percent effort into everything he does and doesn’t take excuses.
Not only is he a great writer, but he is a great mentor and a great pal. He is brilliant in producing content.
Last but not least, he is also a great person.
BRANDON’S
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BRANDON L EA
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