Crazy Chicken
Two nights ago when I went out the chicken coop to count the birds, our Buff Orpington chicken (aka Big Ginger) was nowhere to be found. It’s really strange for Big Ginger not to be in the coop, she’s always the first one to roost up in the evening, sometimes she’s in the coop roosting at three in the afternoon. We looked and looked everywhere and she couldn’t be found. There was no evidence of foul play and I had spent most of the day outside so I would have heard any commotion from a predator attack. Plus Tara would have barked or alerted.
The next morning, she was standing out in a wooded area behind the house. Then I came up with a theory about what had happened. She ventured over the hard snow in the morning but then didn’t want to walk on the soft snow in the afternoon. So she roosted in a pine tree on her little island of earth surrounded by snow. The following night she was in the coop at three.
It was just a theory until yesterday when the same thing happened again. She got stuck on the little island once again. I had to go out and chase her over the snow so she could head back to the coop for the night. I’m glad she wasn’t nabbed by a predator, but it would be nice if she was a little smarter!
Anything funny happening in your garden this week?
Filed under Around the Garden | Comments (10)
That’s really funny. I’ve heard that chickens are not too smart, but she did survive the night. Good for her!
Now, you said this:
“There was no evidence of foul play…”
But didn’t you mean, “There was no evidence of FOWL play”? ;-)
to Greg's comment
I almost typed “fowl” :)
to Susy's comment
Chasing chickens is an exercise in frustration, for sure. We don’t have chickens anymore–for a lot of reasons–and I can’t say I miss the attempts at herding them into their coop when they were being, uh, bird-brained.
to kristin @ going country's comment
Susy, nope nothing funny here. We experienced a 74 degree day yesterday. It was wonderful. However, today will be more like Nebraskan March weather with 45 and rain. It was so torturous yesterday having such nice weather and frozen ground in the garden. I’m soooo ready to be out scratching in the dirt.
Have a great chicken roosting day.
to Nebraska Dave's comment
How funny! Nothing that interesting is happening in my garden these days. Just cleaning and getting ready for spring planting. Its getting quite warm!
to Songbirdtiff's comment
Glad she was only a victim of her own silliness! Our yard melts very unevenly and it’s been a slapstick comedy of chickens trying to hop to get to the sunny dry spots. They are so funny (and so not-smart)!
to Sara's comment
I too got a chuckle out of (no foul play) :) I guess that’s where the term “bird brained” came from, although she can’t be that dumb…who wants to walk over a pile of soft snow and sink?
Think Spring!
to Chris's comment
Our girls were out for a nice day yesterday. They were so excited! To get all the ladies to come in, we just shake a canister of feed and they come running. They follow in an almost straight line back to the run. When Hubs goes outside working, they will follow him around the perimeter of the house expecting to hear that sound! We do have one girl that always hangs back from the rest when we gather. Everyone else is home, but she’s the one we end up having to carry to the coop. At first, it was just plain stubbornness, now we think she just likes to be carried in. Such fun to watch these critters!
to judym's comment
“Foul play”
I caught that. =)
to Missy's comment
What a goof!
to Deairdre Miller's comment