A couple of years ago we bought 3 baby chicks at Easter time for our 3 visiting grandchildren. They loved them, but when it came time for them to head home, our daughter, E.B., made it clear the chickens were staying with Buela and Grandpa.
With the idea that chickens aren’t that hard to keep and it would be fun to share fresh eggs with our friends, I built a 24’x8’ chicken house, bought another dozen and a half chickens and we were in the chicken and egg business. Oh yes, this was before the city had a chicken ordinance (12 chickens/half acre).
When the grandkids returned that summer, we painted the chicken coop in rainbow color stripes as a prelude to our entering the First Annual La Pine Chicken Coop & Garden Tour.
We all know there are a lot of big and little critters that hang around the greater La Pine area, from cougars to coyotes, along with the occasional roaming dogs. That is why you must keep your chickens behind a fence, preferably a fully enclosed chicken wire fence.
But Bobcats! I had never heard of a bobcat being spotted around La Pine.
My job is to feed & water the chickens, and clean the chicken coop. Vicki’s job is to collect the eggs.
Last Wednesday (Jan 9th) afternoon, after Vicki went out to gather the eggs, I got a frantic call from her (cell phones have their place), telling me I’d better come out to the Rainbow Hen House because a big bobcat was inside the chicken coop trying to stare her down and dead chickens were everywhere. Ironically, the night before (Tuesday evening), while watching the evening news, there was a story about a bobcat attacking a family of 3 and mauling all three, the husband severely, before they killed it. So, you can imagine what was going through her mind
I threw on my coat and hat, grabbed my 22 rifle and dashed out to the Rainbow Hen House. Here was a very large bobcat inside the fence with feet planted, about 20’ from Vicki, trying to stare her down. His head barely moved as I came into view and closed to within 25’. This must have unnerved him because he started m
oving toward Vicki. My first shot knocked him down. He jumped up and ran into the hen house. Not sure what I would find if I opened the door, I waited a few minutes, opened the hen house door slightly and found him rolling around on the floor. My second shot brought to an end to “A Bobcat in the Rainbow Hen House”.
oving toward Vicki. My first shot knocked him down. He jumped up and ran into the hen house. Not sure what I would find if I opened the door, I waited a few minutes, opened the hen house door slightly and found him rolling around on the floor. My second shot brought to an end to “A Bobcat in the Rainbow Hen House”.Of our 15 chickens, only one survived. We gathered up the dead chickens and, of course, the bobcat, disposed of them, and straightened up the hen house as best we could. Needless to say, we went back to the house quite relieved that nothing serious had happened to either of us, but pretty dejected over it all, because we knew that our days of fresh eggs was over until at least mid-summer.
