the Z4c

 Sometimes, to get a job done right, you need the right equipment. Other times, you make due with whatever you have on hand. Changing an angry chicken's mind or thwarting a mob of feather pulling guinea fowl from a distance is not easy. 

  I find this situation often as 2/3rds of my flock are rather randy males bent on being the "Commander-in-Peep"... I am not a fan of their prison style attempts at adoration with my under aged chicks. 

 Being a chicken chaser on dew slicked grass while wearing crocs is dangerous to say the least. More than a few times I have found myself flailing with limbs somehow all able to head in opposite directions. Flat on my back.. wind knocked out of me.. I stared at the happy fluffy clouds and wondered how many turds I managed to slide across while trying to save Doink.

 Doink is a black and white Americauna hen who has been desperately trying to save her namesake, the lone feather on her tail that curls to the side. She's rather skittish unless oatmeal is involved, at which time she will risk anything to have some. 

 Which brings me back to needing to be properly armed while attending the feathered deviants. Squirt guns no longer effective.. I needed to find another non-lethal "mind changer" and in a hurry.  This brings me to the happy chance of discovering a new talent.. and a new arsenal. I am an amazing shot (up to 20+ feet) with my trusty Z4c.

   Yep.. the Ziplock 4 cup container flies like a dream. I am able to bean a bird from what once was "too far away." Able to stop the mental mob of 6 guineas bent on beating up someone in seconds with a rump shot.. I am no longer defenseless. I've become adept at "issuing the warning shot" by bouncing the container over the offender.

  I am.. Ziplocked and loaded and ready to go.


 We are as well starting to look into actual means of protection. The clincher happened the other night when we had an issue of my husband being in the new chicken coop.. and coyotes just outside of it. Yelling did not deter them. He did get them to leave by turning on his saw as he cut the poles for the roosts.

 That situation is not cool. In rural areas you tend to be reminded that you too.. are potential prey. I think my husband may ask DV (the neighbor) for some guidance. Land owners here can also get a permit that allows them to get 4 deer per year. 


 My thoughts are.. my Z4c may need to be upgraded should the obnoxious neighbors at the big farm keep up their antics. We fixed more of the fencing.. and boy will I be mad if they cut our fences and tear through our fields on their 4 wheelers... again.


 I suddenly have.. a lot of neighbors. Of which one in town has asked my husband to fix his porch after he took a peek at the coop. Although not exactly a steady job.. it is work. Any work in a town this tiny is hard to find and no luck in the surrounding towns either so far. A chance to get some bills paid is a happy thing!