As I mentioned I was in a business trip all last week. I got home Friday late afternoon and let the chickens out to free range. We do not let them out when we are not home to keep an eye on them. We were all settling in to our normal routine when we heard the chickens having quite the time outside. I happened to look outside, and that is when I saw a dog in the chicken run! I yell DOG! and run for the mudroom to get my boots on and scramble outside. My son and husband rally the weapons, ready to strike should this dog harm my chickens or me. Outside I start yelling and waving my arms around like a crazy woman trying to distract the dog so the hens can scoot into the pop door and be safe in the coop. It was a tense few minutes but I managed to scare the dog away, unharmed, and all the hens were safe and unhurt. We did not make a big deal of it - we live in the country, dogs slip off their collars/leads....it happens, so we watched toe dog and learned who it belonged to and went back to our lives. Fast forward to yesterday, we had the windows open since it was a nice evening. We were just about to watch a movie when I heard the hens cry for help. Apparently, the cluck line is out of order in the coop so they just yelled for help. I will have to look into that. I look outside and again see that same dog after my chickens. I am very irate at this point. I tell my husband to get the gun and run for my boots and out the back door. When I rounded the corner of the house, there was a child in my yard watching the whole ordeal of this dog and chicken do a dance of death. I distracted the dog and the hen got away. The small boy was able to get the dog and drag it back home. We later stopped at the family's house and my husband talked to the parents to reinforce that they need to keep their dog tied or inside because it now immediately comes to our yard after our chickens. Hopefully that is the end of that situation. No dog or chicken was harmed in these incidents....yet.
Yesterday I heard the girls having a fit and thought oh no not again. I peeked out the window to see a hen on the roof of the coop! This coop is 8' high at the front and it slopes down to about 6' in the back. There on the top was a Whyndotte happy as you please. She was probably the one that the dog was trying to get so she devised an escape route. You know just in case it comes back. Who said chickens were stupid? ok they are pretty dumb but they learn and can be cleaver.
This hen hopped up on the feed barrels, then up onto the next box roof. There she looked, paced, and planned. Finally up she went to the roof of the coop! What a goofy chicken. Now if she can remember how to get up there when danger presents itself on the ground again will be the question.
Since the other seen this chicken who was not chicken to jump up on the roof, they all want up there. I was in the coop filling their food and I heard this "THUMP!" I walked out of the coop to see an Easter Egger on top of the nest box roof. I said, "Get down from there!" she she pouted and replied, "But SHE did it....!" "Nope - get down" and she flew down. Then the Whyndotte was up there again.
Oh these chickens are something else!
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