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We purchase three-packs of these little flashlights from Costco. They’re very bright and perfect for farm use.
We always keep several hanging by the door for quick access when we need to find a missing chicken or see what’s bothering the cattle after dark.
These flashlights have three settings: regular, extra-bright, and strobe. The strobe setting always seemed kinda pointless — I mean, how often are you lost in the woods and require a strobe to alert overhead rescue helicopters where you are? — so we never used it.
But then one evening after dark, I went looking for several chickens who hadn’t made it into the coop and discovered a superb function for the strobe setting: it blinds a chicken so you can pick her up without her attempting to squack and escape. Seriously, it works perfectly.
Last week, we had a bluebird who got into the stovepipe of our parlor stove. (Fortunately it wasn’t lit; we seldom use it since installing our wood cookstove.) The bird had made it all the way down the pipe into the stove itself, and was fluttering around in the soot.
The little guy was entirely unhurt. We were tasked with getting the him out of the stove without accidentally releasing him into the house. Don came up with the brilliant notion of using the flashlight strobe to momentarily blind and confuse the bird in order to pick him up.
It worked flawlessly. The parlor stove has a front and a side door, so Don shone the flashlight strobe through the side door while I picked up the bird through the front door. Then I released him outside.
Ya learn something new every day.