Our four voracious hens strike up the band whenever they see me heading toward their coop and pen at the back end of our lot. That’s because I almost always bring treats when I pay them a visit.
So I wasn’t surprised Sunday morning when the chickens started squawking as I prepared to place a tarp over their pen, to shield them from the rain. Once I had the temporary covering in place, I pulled up some dandelion greens - one of their favorite snacks - and tossed them into the pen.
But that didn’t quiet them down.
I then noticed that the hens had knocked over their water bowl. So I carried it to the house, used the hose to refill it, and brought it back to the pen.
Yet the squawking continued.
That's when I finally spotted the real problem. The door to the coop, which I had closed hours earlier to keep “the girls” out in the pen while I removed poop from the coop, remained shut. I had forgotten to reopen it when I finished mucking out the coop at 6:15, and it was now 8:30. So for more than two hours, the hens had been unable to get to their nest boxes in the coop, where they normally lay their eggs.
As soon as I reopened the door, Snow, our white Plymouth Rock, raced into the coop. And the chorus of squawking subsided.
No doubt about it. There was a dumb cluck out by the coop Sunday morning, all right. But it didn’t have a beak or feathers.
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| Our coop, with the door . . . open! |
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