My hen Gertie got tangled in a tomato cage in the yard on Saturday and I stood there clueless for 5 minutes
I keep a little fenced run next to my vegetable patch, and somehow Gertie squeezed through a gap and got her leg wedged in an old wire tomato cage I forgot to put away last fall. She was flopping around and squawking, and I just froze because I had no idea if pulling her out would snap her leg or make it worse. I finally grabbed my wire cutters and snipped two of the rings apart while my neighbor Deb held her wrapped in a towel, and Gertie walked away with just a small scrape. That whole mess could have been avoided if I had spent ten minutes cleaning up the yard before letting them out that morning. Now I walk the whole run first thing and kick anything metal or sharp to the curb, and I count the hens before I shut the coop too. I also grabbed a roll of that soft garden tie so nothing loose is ever lying around again. Has anyone else had a bird get stuck in something dumb they left in the yard, and how did you get them loose without panicking?