Sunday, October 2, 2011

La Chupacabra and The Chicken Farmer

Please note that there are no pictures for this story even though all events are true as seen through the wife's eyes in the story. It was just too gruesome to take pictures of the events!


The seven month pregnant mother and her two and a half year old daughter stood in the middle of the living room with the mother’s hand over the little girl’s ears. The shotgun rumbled as the tired chicken farmer shot two shots out of the little girl’s bedroom window into a chicken coop flooded with light.

At the beginning of September, the chicken farmer, his wife, and two kids had returned home from an international trip to discover that something wild had found their chickens and liked the taste. Chicken farming was a new adventure to the family, but had given their 11 year old boy a sense of responsibility.

The dad had tried numerous ways to keep the creature from getting to the son’s chickens to include building a roosting box for them. However, after only two short nights of not being able to get the chickens, the mysterious chicken killer had learned how to overcome this hurdle as well and killed two chickens in one night.

Distraught and being down to just 2 chickens from the 21 original chickens, the novice chicken farmers had to begin with, the chicken farmer formed a grand plan. With the help of the eager young uncle, a baby monitor, and flood lights, the two men were going to attack the beast and make sure it did not get the last of the flock.

The first night was a sleepless night for the mother, with the baby monitor blasting night sounds and a 3 am attack by the mysterious beast. The two hunters ran outside, flooded the coop with lights and took one shot at the scared chupacabra running away through the woods. Meanwhile, inside, the mom had taken the youngest child who sleeps near the coop to her room, to help keep her from being scared. Although, the chickens were safe the chicken farmers were sadden that the creature had not been taken care of the first night.

The second night the men traded places, this time with the dad turning on the light and the young uncle with the gun. Chupacabra was once again on the outside of the coop, and out smarted the uncle as he blasted four rounds in the beast’s general direction… Once again the frustrated dad had missed the creature.

The third night was a quite night. Chupacabra decided not to try to get dinner from the chicken coop leaving the weary father confused. However, the mother was slight rested considering that this night was just the calm before the storm. The fourth night would bring on a full fledge battle.

The stage was set the fourth night in Chupacabra’s favor. The frustrated Dad chose not to put the chickens in their roosting box. The chicken farming couple went to bed around eleven o’clock hoping for another quiet evening. Just as soon as they both went to sleep, Chupacabra attacked. The mother heard the worst sound ever- a hurt screaming chicken. It sounded to her like a baby being brutally murdered. The mother rushed to their daughter’s bedroom where she found her awake and terrified by the sound. She grabbed their daughter and rushed her back to the couple’s room. The dad fled out of the house, turned on the lights and did not see chupacabra anywhere. Chupacabra was gone with the tail of a chicken.

Just an hour later, the chickens still not in their roosting box, Chupacabra attacked again. This time she managed to drag the tailless chicken across the pin and was pulling it out of the fence by its head. Dad was still not able to get to the fence fast enough to kill the beast. Scaring it away, dad could still hear it rustling in the woods, and shot off his shot gun in the direction of the sound. With the little girl safe in her parent’s bed, the frustrated couple decided to determine the fate of the lifeless chicken laying half in the coop and half out, along with putting the unharmed chicken into the roosting box for its safety. The husband kicked the lifeless chicken before bending down to pick it up, and the chicken took off running.

In order to try and save both birds that their son has grown to learn, Dad put the chickens up in the roosting box, and chose to leave the light on, hoping that Chupacabra would not return that night. However, earlier than most alarm clocks, around five o’clock am, the injured chicken let out its “Please, God, Save Me!” screech for the third time that night. Mom ran across the house, looked out her daughter’s window and saw a huge ball of grayish fur hanging down from the roosting box. She grabbed her baby girl and ran out of the room as Dad arrived in the room with the shot gun. He opened the window and quietly knocked out the screen like you would see in a Wild West film. BANG! He had fired the first shot.

The mom had uncovered her daughter’s ears and was telling her it would all be ok, as they stood in the living room waiting for the dad to come out. The Mom did not take the little girl to the bedroom because she would not have enough time to turn off the monitor. During this long moment, of silence from the bedroom, the dad was preparing the shotgun to fire another round. From nowhere, the mom and little girl jumped when they heard the second BANG! Dad finally came out of his daughter’s room looking tired and defeated. However, he announced that Chupacabra had lost the battle.

Too tired to check, the husband did not go investigate the wife’s questions of did her son’s chickens survive. He just walked quietly back to the bedroom. The couple had allowed their scared little girl to stay in their bed with them for the remainder of the night. Around nine am Sunday morning, a still extremely drained dad went out to dispose of the dead raccoon that his wife had named Chupacabra. Then he opened the roost box to find two very scared, beat up, toeless chickens still alive.

Knowing that their first year chicken farming has not been successful, they have learned many lessons. The husband has not given up and has immediately made modifications to the roosting box and plans to repair and make the coop more secure. The mother has her chicken first aid kit ready to doctor the chicken wounds to prevent infection. The baby monitor is still outside and may stay there until the couple’s youngest child arrives in November.

Despite their bad luck and lack of knowledge with chicken farming, this family has not given up and hopes to get more chickens soon.

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