Snakes in the Hen House, Mice in the Bathroom. Again.

In non-horse related news, the speckled hens laid their first (brown) eggs on September 20th!  It's such a delight to get a variety of eggs!

Heard the cats "talking" in the master bathroom and opened the door to find them batting a terrified field mouse between them.  I got a dustpan and the mouse hopped right in and stayed perfectly still as I carried him out of the house and let him go in the desert behind our yard.

Since I was up, I went to feed the chickens.  Tipped over their water bowl and a little snake slithered out.  I yelped.  Once I realized it was a gopher snake, I explained that it was welcome to stay as long as it ate mice.  30 minutes later, the hens were harassing the poor snake so much that I grabbed the dustpan and relocated the snake.  Rural living at it's finest. 

New Chicks

Literally.

A lady was selling her flock at the community yard sale, so we ended up with a "mom" hen (on the left) and her six month old chicks (right).  

They seem to be settling in, but have obviously not been handled often. 

They have no names yet ...waiting to see what personalities they have.