Indi has always been fascinated by the chickens but more obsessed with the rats / mice that come to visit the chickens and scavenge what they can. These rodents approach the chicken coop via two routes - over the back fence from the neighbours jungle and shed as well as through the side fence from the next-door neighbours after emerging from under their woodpile.
Often when I have been attending to the chickens or hanging washing on the line, Indi comes up for a peek. Occasionally she will spot a rodent (way before I do) then intently watches it hoping that it will make a poor decision of where to run to next. This can be followed by a burst of activity from Indi signally that it has indeed made that bad decision. Several times she has cornered or come close to catching the rodent.
The other afternoon as I walked through the back gate, I was greeted enthusiastically by Indi. Normally she would follow me inside but not today. Instead she disappeared behind the veggie patch and looked to be digging. Intrigued I went to investigate only to see her holding a mouse in her mouth!! Luckily she dropped it when I approached. It was clearly dead without any evidence of injury and rigamortis had not yet set in. I could imagine Indi chasing it and poking at the poor creature with her nose for hours and wondered if the poor thing had died of shock.
At least we know if the mouse plague that is currently decimating the crops and grain stores in central west NSW makes it to Canberra we should be ok and Indi will be extremely happy to have friends to play with!!
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