For those who don’t know it, I have four lovely hens in my suburban backyard. Simple little creatures that provide me with eggs to eat and poop for my garden, yard, compost pile, and the bottom of my shoes. They poop a lot. In fact, each morning, they charge out of their coop to lay huge egg sized turds. Just what everyone with a queasy stomach wants to see in the morning before eating breakfast. It’s much worse to eat breakfast and then take care of the chickens.
Why did I choose to raise chickens in the ‘burbs? I faintly remember something about them being fun pets for the kids. We would have some great tasting eggs and lots of fertilizer. By the way, if you plan on picking up a dozen eggs, you have to take a trash bag of fertilizer/newspaper bedding too or the deal is OFF!
Today, I remembered why I brought chickens to my home. They are crazy, funny animals that make you laugh. It’s winter in the Midwest. Every day, I try to give them some greens to go with their regular chicken feed and scratch. Sometimes, we will toss them some of the veggie and fruit scraps from the kiddos plates or meal prep. Today, I tossed them a half eaten pancake. Bam! It hit the outside end of their caged run. Bam! Bam! Bam! Three out of four of the chickens hit the inside end of their caged run. Bam! Bam! Bam! They didn’t learn from their first time, they don’t have super powers and can’t charge through wire mesh. Silly chickens, you need bigger brains.
Today, I remembered why I brought chickens to my home. They are crazy, funny animals that make you laugh. It’s winter in the Midwest. Every day, I try to give them some greens to go with their regular chicken feed and scratch. Sometimes, we will toss them some of the veggie and fruit scraps from the kiddos plates or meal prep. Today, I tossed them a half eaten pancake. Bam! It hit the outside end of their caged run. Bam! Bam! Bam! Three out of four of the chickens hit the inside end of their caged run. Bam! Bam! Bam! They didn’t learn from their first time, they don’t have super powers and can’t charge through wire mesh. Silly chickens, you need bigger brains.
They stood there for 10 minutes looking at the pancake. Finally, they gave up and went about eating food in their run. Right now, you are thinking, “This chick is flipping nuts and cruel to animals!” The door to their run had been open the whole time. I just had no clue they would be so stupid they couldn’t figure out to walk out the door to get the pancake. Don’t blame me for their lack of mental capabilities.
Finally, Sunny discovered the door was open. She walked out of the run and back into the run, back and forth. Then, she realized she could walk around the door and get to the pancake. Honestly people, they free range in my backyard 75% of the time. I don’t know why this took them so long to figure out. Sunny moseyed to the front of the run and had a few nibbles of pancake. Rosie figured out the name of the game and joined her. They causally shared the meal between the two of them. They took turns carrying it away from the run, the whole time chattering to each other and enjoying their treat. It was like watching two respectful, old ladies having tea together.
Then Twinkle popped her head up. I swear I saw the 10 watt light bulb go on above her head. Twinkle raced out of the run, went between Rosie and Sunny, snaged the pancake and continued for another 20 feet at full tilt. She never even slowed down when she grabbed the pancake from between the two old ladies. The old ladies looked at each other, then ran after Twinkle. They never had a chance of catching the thief. Every time they tried, she would pick up the pancake and just run away faster. Finally, Rosie and Sunny gave up and decided to further deplete my garden of worms.
I did get to watch bull-legged chickens sprinting through my yard for several minutes though. It was worth the sacrifice of few more worms. Yep, I'm glad I have glad I have crazy, little chickens in my backyard.
